

/Uex&^rHeX^c 





**"V. 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS 



BY < 

ALEXANDER McKENZIE 




BOSTON 
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY 

32 FRANKLIN STREET 






Copyright, 1883. 
d. lothrop and compant. 



These sermons are, for the most part, printed from 
reports made by Mr. H. W. Gleason. 



CONTENTS. 



I, 


— The one Life .... 


7 


II. 


— Who loved Me 


31 


Ill, 


— Choose whom ye will serve 


49 


IV, 


— Looking toward the Sea 


70 


V, 


— The good Merchant 


83 


VI.- 


— Why stand ye gazing 


102 


VIL- 


— Xot by might, but by Spirit 


122 


VIII, 


— Grieving the Holy Spirit 


142 


IX.- 


— Turning Northward 


162 


X.- 


— What must I do 


183 


XI.- 


— The Love of God manifested . 


183 


XII.- 


-We shall be like Him 


222 


XIII.- 


— The unchanging Christ 


240 


XIV- 


— The wayside Seed . 


263 


XV.- 


-Truth commending Itself 


283 


XVI.- 


- The Power of an endless Life 


303 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



I. 

THE ONE LIFE. 



Scripture Lesson : Revelation, Chapter xxii. 
Text : And I, even I only, am left ; and they seek my life, to 
take it away. — I ICings, xix : 10. 

I EVEN I only, am left." "What a chance he 
had, the only man in Israel who loved God, 
and whom God approved ! What a communion 
must have been given him as the Spirit of God 
dwelt with him ! What an opportunity for use- 
fulness ! He was not bearing to the people a 
common thing ; he was not standing as a wit- 
ness to that which everybody knew, and offer- 
ing to men that which others could give to 
them ; he was the only man who could make 
the people see God ; who was authorized to speak 
for him ; to whom men might point and say, 
" Behold the servant of God." Our influence 
is so much curtailed, and our opportunities to 
bless the world, because there are so many 
others who have the same kind of goods to sell, 
the same kind of spirit to illustrate, the same 
sort of influence to exert, that when one finds 
himself standing alone, holding a great treasure, 

7 



8 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

or representing some great truth, it is then that 
his opportunity has come. It sometimes hap- 
pens that there is one only of a family who 
loves Christ. What an opportunity is his ! There 
may be only one in a circle of friends who serves 
God ; there may be only one in a class, one among 
the clerks in a store, one in a firm of merchants, 
one in any of the associations of life. Almost 
everybody we know may be a stranger to God. 
What a divine opportunity, to be promptly and 
heartily improved ! It was a misconception on 
this man's part, that he was alone in his fidel- 
ity ; yet the influence of seven thousand who 
had not bowed the knee to Baal, and whose 
lips had not kissed him, went for very little 
so long as they chose to be concealed. No one 
wishes to deny the value of secret piety -, but 
no man ever read in his New Testament that 
secret piety was enough. It is not more plainly 
required of us that we believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, than that we let the world know 
that we believe on him. The word of the Gos- 
pel which we have read this morning, which 
bids whosoever will to come to him, with equal 
emphasis bids whosoever comes to repeat the 
word, that it may pass from man to man, and 
land to land, until, all through the earth, the 
other sheep which are not of this fold are brought 
into the one flock under the one shepherd. 

Nobly had this man Elijah used his oppor- 



THE ONE LIFE. 9 

tunity. When lie was called upon to stand 
alone, he stood alone. " I, I only remain a 
prophet of the Lord ; but Baal's prophets are 
four hundred and fifty men." He matched 
himself against them all; he denied nothing; 
he concealed nothing; he withheld nothing. 
He stood out in that simple personality, one 
man here and four hundred and fifty there ; 
one man with God and the hundreds with Baal ; 
and this one man with God outnumbered and 
subdued them all. Then there came that reac- 
tion which comes so often; a reaction which 
is needed. It is scarcely possible that with such 
success and such wonderful achievements as 
marked the life of Elijah, he should be able 
to bear this pressure and to live in this exalted 
state. It was almost inevitable that, when 
the excitement was withdrawn, when no longer 
there were hundreds of men to resist him, and 
he stood alone, the conqueror — it was almost 
inevitable that his heart should fail him. It was 
necessary that he should have this recalling to 
himself. God gives it to us ; he gave it to 
Elijah ; he gave it to St. Paul afterwards. Lest 
he should be exalted out of measure hy the 
abundance of the revelation, lest he should be 
exalted in his own thoughts and be separated 
from his work, God gave to St. Paul a thorn 
in the flesh. He gave to Elijah that woman 
Jezebel to bring him to humility, that he might 



10 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

feel it was God alone who was great, even 
though he was the prophet of God. There was 
a falling back into dismay and disappointment ; 
there was a halting, because of the fear which 
oppressed his soul. Then there came those 
grand lessons. One brought him down from 
the comfort of the proud seclusion in which 
he lived. He was reminded that there were 
seven thousand who were like himself; seven 
thousand faithful hearts. It was not altogether 
a pleasant thought for a man who was boast- 
ing himself in his peculiar goodness. As if 
that was not enough, he was reminded that it 
was not very essential that he should live ; for 
there was a farmer's boy following the oxen 
along the plains of Abel-meholah, who would 
be ready to stand in his place and take up his 
work ; so that for the world it mattered very 
little whether Elijah lived or not. How much 
there was to make this man find his place ; 
not to take away anything which he had wrought 
or anything from his willingness to do, but to 
bring him to the level of other men, until he 
found in his own heart that which the Scrip- 
ture has been frank enough to write concern- 
ing him, that " Elijah was a man subject to like 
passions as we are," so that he needed the same 
discipline that he might keep the faith. But 
Elijah lived, went to Beersheba, left his ser- 
vant behind him, plunged into the wilderness 



THE ONE LIFE. 11 

and there laid him down in his despair and 
prayed that he might die. Then there came 
that which God so often gives, and which works 
so wonderfully for our relief, a good night's 
sleep. It is marvellous how the still, dark hours 
of the night will clear one's thoughts and bring 
him to his place ; how often the dejection of 
evening is banished when the sun rises ; how 
many mysteries and uncertainties have flown 
when the day comes back again. Elijah lay 
down to sleep and found that truth which is 
written in the Psalm, that God giveth to his 
beloved while they sleep. He gave to this man, 
for Elijah was his beloved. As he slept the angel 
touched him and spoke to him, and when he 
was awake he fed him. Twice he touched him, 
twice he roused him, and gave him bread and 
drink, and the man went forty days and nights 
on the strength of this ministry of mercy and 
of bread. We find no more the wish that he 
might die, no more the desire to be rid of the 
world, no more of the terrible despondency which 
made his earthly future full of terror. He went 
his way to the place where a greater than he 
had been commissioned, where Moses had found 
God, where God had found Moses. In the shad- 
ows and among the very cliffs of Horeb did this 
man wait until he should hear God ; and he 
heard God. Men always hear God when they 
listen. He heard God, not in the wind which 



12 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

broke the rocks in pieces, not in the earth- 
quake which shook the mountains to their base, 
not in the fire which blazed from cliff to cliff 
and lighted up the deep gorges ; not in these. 
There had been enough of tumult, enough of 
storm and tempest. They had exhausted their 
power on this man's heart. God came closer 
to him, and when he had made quietness he 
spoke to him in a still small voice which Elijah 
heard. Now what is Elijah's complaint ? "I 
only am left, and they seek my life to take it 
away." What is the remedy ? God did that 
which another had purposed to clo ; he took 
the man's life away ; not the breath out of his 
body, but his life. He took Elijah's life up 
into his own hands, and Elijah consented to 
have it taken up into the hands of God. I pray 
that it may be marked, because it is a lesson 
in which we need very much to be instructed, 
that God came to this despondent man, not with 
words of mere comfort, not with that worn and 
unsatisfying solace which we so often speak, not 
weeping with him, not weeping over him ; but 
with that comfort wherewith men are comforted 
of God. He came to him with something to do. 
What did he say to this man who felt that his 
life was in peril, that he only was left and that 
men were about to take away his life? He did 
not point him to the glory which shall be forever ; 
he did not say, " Well, Elijah, everybody must 



THE ONE LIFE. 13 

die, and it matters very little whether it is to-day 
or to-morrow, whether it is in this way or in 
that." He did not say, " You have rendered a 
very good service ; you have outlived your use- 
fulness." He said nothing like that. O, men, 
there is something here, in the way in which God 
came to Elijah, that is full of comfort and wis- 
dom for you and me. For I notice this : That 
when God comforts a man, it is very often by 
giving him work. He does not content himself 
with soothing and quieting men as if they had no 
strength and were simply like crying children 
needing to be fondled and indulged. God re- 
spects the manhood of a man. What does he 
say to Elijah's complaint — " I, even I only am 
left, and they seek my life to take it away?" 
" Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of 
Damascus i and when thou comest, anoint Hazael 
to be king over Syria ; and Jehu the son of Nim- 
shi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel ; and 
Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt 
thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." That 
was God's comfort, something to do. When a 
man is busy for God he has comfort. Our de- 
spondent hours are the hours when we are not at 
work, or not at work for God. With a man's 
hands pouring oil upon Hazael and Jehu, and 
dropping the mantle upon Elisha, there is very 
little time to think about Jezebel. The calmness 
of God comes to the obedient child of God. 



14 CAMBRIDGE SEBMONS. 

Then God took his life. It is very singular 
that this man, who had such a great fear that his 
life was to be taken away, that he was to die a 
death of violence, did not die a death of violence ; 
did not die any death, not even on his bed. 
There came a chariot of fire and horses of fire 
when they were ready, and the prophet went up 
into the glory of God. The Lord had sought his 
life and had taken it away. How grand the con- 
trast is ! Let nine hundred years pass by. He 
was in the wilderness, this prophet strong and 
severe, clothed in his garment of camel's hair, 
feeding upon locusts and wild honey, the prophet 
of a rugged time committing his way unto God. 
Next yon see him at Hermon, far in the north. 
This lonely man, who has found Moses somewhere 
beyond the clouds, comes down with Moses to the 
transfiguration of the Lord, no longer stern in 
spirit, or clad in coarse apparel. These two 
prophets of the ancient time appeared in glory 
and talked with the Lord " of his decease which 
he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Let us mark 
that the turning point of Elijah's life was not 
when he conquered the four hundred and fifty 
prophets of Baal, nor when he ascended in a 
chariot of fire into heaven ; the turning point of 
this man's life was when, among the peaks of 
Horeb, he heard the voice of God and obeyed it, 
and putting his fears into the cave, went down to 
anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Elisha 



THE ONE LIFE. 15 

to be prophet in his room. It is not strange 
that ever afterwards the people were expecting 
Elijah to come back. You find it running all 
through their history. When Jesus came, it was 
Elijah, some said. Some declared that John the 
Baptist was indeed Elijah. The prophet so 
stamped himself upon the minds and hearts of 
the people that they looked for his return. If he 
ever had come — and he did in his time — it 
would have been because in the rock he heard 
the voice of God and did what God told him to do. 

I have brought this to your notice this 
morning, not that I may speak upon this 
illustrious man, but because there are certain 
points here which, so far from being exceptional, 
are a common heritage for us. I wish to take 
one or two things out of this man's life, that 
we may see how our lives are to gather the 
inspiration for which this word is written. 

These two things are to be noticed, and 
they are the points about which all I shall 
say will arrange itself; first, that this man 
had a life, just one life, and he had it all to 
himself there in the mountain. There were 
seven thousand other men who had seven 
thousand other lives, but he had this life and 
it was all his own; it was all the life he had. 
It was worth a great deal to him. He justly 
thought that it was worth a great deal to 
the world, to God ; and he wanted to keep that 



16 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

life and make the most of it. Then the other 
thought immediately connected with this is, that 
he kept this life and made the most of it by 
finding God and linking his life with God's life ; 
his plan with God's plan. If there are any two 
truths in the whole circle of truth which may 
be called universal, I think they are these : that 
every man has one life, and that every man 
shall make the most of that life by joining it 
with God's life and God's thought. 

This is true of every one of us, that every 
man has his life, one life, and that life is fast 
slipping awa}' from his grasp. How rapidly it 
is passing, year after year, and day after day ! 
How little time it takes to make the hair 
white and the step feeble ! How soon it comes, 
and our friends begin to say that we are get- 
ting old, and a little after we feel it ourselves, 
and by and by we give up one thing and 
another, and see that life is passing gradually 
away, until at last they carry us out and round 
the sods over us. Another thing is true. We 
have but this one life and this life is fast escaping; 
but we are to remember that this life is the mak- 
ing of the endless years beyond. I have said 
here a great many times, that there is but one 
life, and that time and eternity are one. But I 
wish this morning to take up our common method 
of speech. Let us speak as if life came to a 
great change in that which we call death. 



THE OXE LIFE. 17 

This life, or the part of our life this side of 
death, reaches forward into that which is to come. 
We might expect this. It is after the analogy of 
nature. Life everywhere is after this plan. In 
the field there is the seed time, and after that 
the harvest. Following that analogy which the 
Scripture takes up and illustrates and enforces, 
this life is the seed time and after it comes the 
harvest ; so that clearly this life finds its great 
value as it reaches on into the years which 
are before us. The Scripture teaches us in many 
places, that for the deeds we are doing here in 
the body we shall give account when we stand at 
the judgment seat of Christ. There is one other 
thing at this point : that life is not merely a sys- 
tem of existence, a series of days and nights 
flowing the one into the other, but that it comes 
to us with a certain meaning, a character of its 
own. One word must be taken as the expres- 
sion of this meaning. The true character of life 
is well summed up in the word duty : it is that 
which we express by our word ought — what 
men ought to do. Duty is the meaning of 
life. The reason you live is that jou have 
duty. Do 3'our duty and you are following 
the law of your life ; neglect your duty and 
you are wasting your life. So that a man finds 
this which joins him to himself, and to his 
fellow-men, so far as his duty touches them, and 



18 CAMBRIDGE SEBMONS. 

by this word duty, or ought, joins himself to 
God from whom the duty has come. 

I am bringing you not a lesson of death, but 
a lesson of life. I want to have the great les- 
son not something which shall make us afraid 
of the end, but that which shall make us calm 
in view of the end, as we look upon any great 
work which is required of us and are not 
afraid of it because we know that we are equal 
to it. We should take up life in this hearty way, 
and think of it as something which we are wise 
enough to receive and manly enough to use even 
to its great fulfllmemt. 

This word of the prophet at Horeb describes 
in its two parts the position of every one of 
us. We may see where he is, and what he feels. 
He is alone in the mountain, he and his life 
together, and he feels this : " I am the only 
one to take care of my life. I have no 
brother to care for it. I have no servant 
here to defend it. There is no prophet, there 
is nobody in all Israel, who feels as I do, or 
cares whether I live or not. I stand alone, 
keeping my life. That is, in some measure, 
the position of every one of us. We are alone. 
We have our kindred, we have our neighbors 
and our friends ; but every one stands by him- 
self, he and his life together. Every one besides, 
of the hundreds now in this house, might die 



THE ONE LIFE. 19 

before noon, and you live, my friend. They all 
might be happy and you sad ; they all might 
be sad and you happy; they all might be right 
and you wrong; they all might be wrong and 
you right ; God might approve every one of them 
and not you. God might be pleased with you 
and with no one besides. Thus separate does a 
man stand, with his own body, with his own breath, 
with his own duty, with his own need, with Iris 
own record on high and the destiny which follows 
the opening of the book. This is a commonplace 
truth, yet it may serve us well. Once for all 
we have a chance to live. The eternal years 
are committed to us, with one opportunity, ex- 
tended by God's grace, to see if we will do 
God's will ; and if that gracious opportunity 
is lost, there is no return. The cold waves 
rush in upon the gray rocks, and break against 
them, whoever lives, whoever dies , — 

But the tender grace of a day that is dead 
Will never come hack to me. 

Then there is the other point. " The}' seek 

my life to take it away." One woman mad 

and revengeful, sought the prophet's life. 

How easy it was to flee from her to Horeb ! 

But a thousand seek our life ; there is no 

Horeb where we may shield ourselves. There 

is no wilderness into which we may plunge 

and escape from — not Jezebel from whom we 

could hide, but that which we call death. It 



20 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

follows us everywhere ; there is no escape for 
us ; the law of nature is pronounced ; the 
forces of the world are working against us ; 
our powers are becoming enfeebled ; steadily 
we are growing old ; with steady step we are 
approaching that last hour. The powers of nature 
and the ordinance of God are seeking our life 
to take it away. Brethren, there is no help 
for us. The archers are ready, the bows are 
drawn, the shaft is pointed ; it is certain that 
they who are seeking our life will presently 
take it away. I ask that these things may 
be accepted not as terrors, but as simple veri- 
ties upon which we are to fashion our lives. 
What shall we do, then ? 

Some have said " If this be so, let us eat 
and drink, for to-morrow we die." Others 
throw themselves upon despair and say, " What 
is the use of living?" One often brings up that 
satire in theory, though seldom in practice, 
" What is the use of my saving money ? I 
cannot carry it with me into another world. 
I must die penniless, like the beggar. What is the 
use of my trying to get any position ? I have no 
sooner gained it than I am dead. What is 
the use of my trying to enjoy life? What matters 
it ? Presently it will all be over, and I shall 
go away with my empty hands. More than I 
have gained I must leave. You tell me that I 
ought to be industrious and prudent and saving : 



THE ONE LIFE. 21 

will you tell me what is the use of my heap- 
ing up treasure knowing not who shall gather 
it, or trying to be anything, or clo anything 
in the world which to-morrow may forget that 
I ever lived? 

The saddest grave 

That ever tears kept green must sink at last 
' Unto the common level of the world ; 
Then o'er it runs a road. 

What is the use?" I think there is much to be 
said on the side of the old preacher who had been 
a common man and a king, and had touched Hfe 
on every side, and who wrote, " Vanity of vani- 
ties, all is vanity." 

But the Scripture comes to us with quite 
a different lesson from that, and it speaks to 
us after this wise: "You are to-morrow to 
die ; be very careful, therefore, what you eat 
and drink. You are to-morrow to go out of 
the world : be very careful, therefore, what 
you do while you are in the world. To-mor- 
row you are to give account of that which you 
are doing here : therefore be very careful, and 
as this is the only life, the only opportu- 
nity, guard its moments well. Treasure them; 
let not life run to waste ; let not any part of 
life run to waste. It is all the life you have ; 
it is hurrying away ; guard it ; watch it day 
and night ; watch it at every point, for it is 
your o\\\y life, and they are seeking to take 



22 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

it away." It is in view of these truths that the 
grandeur of life comes in. You will notice 
this ; that a great man's life is great in some 
emergency, at some special point, or in the 
presence of a great work. A man who simply 
goes on his way and does easy things passably 
well, and is reasonably content, is not one who 
really masters the world. There comes to every 
one of us in our different places, and in different 
degrees according to our strength, some times 
when we must concentrate all we have upon 
one issue. And it is in this solitary oppor- 
tunity that the force of our life comes out, and 
we put our manhood to the proof, and settle 
it with ourselves whether we are able and 
willing to live. 

It is in this way that it comes to us now; if 
you feel that you have here many years, and that 
at any time you can recover the past, and gather 
up your life and make up for lost time, }^ou 
will never do very much. The meaning of all 
this is, that you are standing at a critical point. 
This may be the turning point of the battle. Lose 
Waterloo, and it is St. Helena. Fail in this enter- 
prise, and it is bankruptcy. Be broken down in 
this work, and it is defeat. Let this one life fail, 
and it is all over, it is all gone. There is no 
second chance. Life will never come back. You 
stand alone with your life. That supreme moment 
comes when you must determine whether you 



THE ONE LIFE. 23 

can face the one occasion, and in one life win 
eternity. It calls for all your reason, and all 
your conscience, and all your strength. If a man 
is a man, he gains the day as Elijah did. If he 
is careless and weak, he drifts though life until 
he drifts to the judgment of the ages that are 
to come. 

We are inconsistent. Our views of life do 
not accord with our practices in life. Thus 
we sa}^ very truly that the most valuable 
thing we have is our life. "Millions of money 
for an inch of time," — it was not one woman 
only who said that ; ten thousand men and women 
have said it. Part with everything rather than 
die — of course everything but honor. It was 
a remark of one who knew men well, because 
he had searched them out in malice and cunning, 
who had gone up and down the earth with 
his shrewd, envious eyes, when he brought his 
testimony and laid it before God — " All that a 
man hath will he give for his life." And our 
Lord Jesus Christ, when he wished to express the 
greatest thing which a man would do, said: 
" Greater love hath no man than this : that a 
man lay down his life." That is the value of 
life ; and when Jesus wanted to speak of that 
great gift of his own, he could find no better 
word than that, and said : '* I give unto them 
eternal life." We value life because we enjoy 
it, and are in the habit of esteeming it highly, 



24 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

and hope for future good, and because there is a 
dread of the unknown. It is a part of our 
character that there should be this shrinking from 
the thought of change. A good old man once 
said to me, "I am not afraid of being dead, 
but I am afraid of dying." So it comes about 
in many ways that we think, and think truly, 
that nothing which we have is so valuable as 
life. Now see the inconsistency. What do 
we do with life? This best thing very many 
utterly waste. They never think upon its value, 
or upon its meaning, or upon what they are to 
do with it. They simply let the whole of it 
run away : it goes to waste. Still more marked 
is the wasting of parts of it. To think of wasting 
one of these invaluable days, one hour of the few 
and fleeting hours of life, when we have not 
fortune enough in all our house to buy back 
a single moment! We let the moments go as 
if we had them in plenty, or could get all we 
want in the market-place. We part the most 
easily with that which we value most, and 
which never can be recovered. 

It was a most expressive illustration of the 
matchless English preacher, that men suffer life 
to slip through their hands as water slips through 
a marble fountain. He drew a picture of the 
marble image you have so often seen at the 
fountain, standing " steadfast, serene, immova- 
ble," with the water flowing through its lips. 



THE ONE LIFE. 25 

It flows and flows, and the marble never thinks 
that it is flowing, never seeks to check it, never 
seeks to govern it. It flows on, and the marble 
hands never can take it back. So, he says — 
and how truly, how forcibly — we stand and let 
our time slip away. An hour and an hour, a 
day and a day,- a year, and ten years, and 
twenty } r ears, and fifty years, and sevent3 r years, 
slip through the marble image which is a marble 
image still. Is not that true? Where is your 
yesterday? Did you clutch every moment as 
it came ? Did you hold it as it sought to 
get away from you, making sure } T ou had the 
whole of it, and that it was serving you well ? 
What has become of your years ? Have they gone 
as the water through the marble lips ? Let me 
change the illustration, and say that life should 
come to us and pass from us as life comes to 
the growing grain which, springing from the seed, 
reaches up and takes every moment, takes every 
breath of air, all the sunshine and rain, all the 
dewclrops, covetous, eager, watching all the day 
and sleeping never at night, putting out its 
hands everywhere, that it may draw in out of 
time all the merit of time that the husband- 
man may reap the golden grain which shall 
reward his pains. Life comes to us somewhat 
in that way, to be taken up into our thoughts, 
made a part of ourselves, and put to those high 
uses wherein it may serve us forever. 



26 CAMBRIDGE SERMOMS. 

What shall I say, then? Allow me to say 
these things ! What shall I do in life, seeing 
that I have but one life, and they are seek- 
ing that to take it away ? I will do these three 
things : 

First. I will find the meaning of life. Life 
is more than a stream of water, or a stream of 
moments. Conscience and life belong together. 
What is my life to-day in its relation to my con- 
science ? I am here with all my powers. What 
does life mean as it touches my powers ? I am 
here among my fellow-men. What does my life 
mean in its relations to my fellow-men? I am 
here before God and his judgment. W T hat does 
life mean in its relation to God and the judgment? 
I must find what it is, what is in it, what is 
the intent of it, what is the use to be made of it. 
I must know the meaning of my years. I may 
have no opinion about currency, about law, about 
anything else ; but the one thing which I must 
know is, what it means to me that I am living 
to-day> and that these hours are slipping through 
my hands. 

Secondly, I must take life up and put it to 
those uses wherein it serves me best. There 
comes that serious moment winch finds us all, 
yet is not improved by us all, when a man makes 
choice of that which he will do in life ; when 
he chooses, as we say, his profession. Some men 
choose their profession ; I believe in many cases 



THE ONE LIFE. 27 

the professions choose the men. There are some 
men who are larger than life and greater than 
the world, who say, "I will not ask the world 
what it will let me do ; I will ask myself, I will 
ask God, what I am made for, and I will choose 
m}^ work according to my will and the will of 
God." It is a serious moment when a man makes 
up his mind whether his seventy years shall be 
spent here or abroad, whether in getting or giv- 
ing ; whether in getting a living or in making 
other people live ; whether they shall be nsed in 
the service of self, or shall be spent in the service 
of God. It becomes a weighty matter, and the 
wise man must determine for himself what he 
shall do with the grand current of his life and 
with special parts of it. What shall I do to- 
day? These hours are winged, and are moving 
forward. These moments of your time which 
I am now occupying never will return. I feel 
the responsibility ; perhaps you do. We must 
make something out of this hour. Do not be 
marble statues and let this Sunday forenoon run 
through your hands. Lay hold of it. Take it 
and use it. And, then, look on with life. We do 
not make the most of our college life, for instance, 
if we think that the day of graduation is all there 
is. We are studying for the future, reaching 
on, perhaps with definite plans, perhaps with gen- 
eral plans ; but still with the future in our 
mind. All our life is to go forward beyond this 



2§ CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

graduation into the endless years. So Christ 
teaches us. Lay up your treasure in heaven, 
he sa} T s. " To him that overcometh will I grant 
to sit with me in my throne." " In my Father's 
house are many mansions. I will come again 
and receive you unto myself." 

There comes finally this other thought, that 
what we are to do really in this one life of ours 
is to find God, or let God find us. I wish to 
say a word to the little children who are here. 
It is too simple for anybody else to listen to. 
Will the others think of what I have said while 
I say this word to the children ? That man who 
knows best what a watch is good for is the man 
who made it, and the one who knows best what 
a life is good for is the One who made it. God 
made your life. God gives you your time, your 
thought. What you ought to do God knows best. 
Do you want to know what to think, what to 
choose, and how to make the most out of your 
years ? Do you want to know what you are 
made for? Well, ask the Maker. Ask God. He 
will tell you what he wants you to be, what he 
meant when he gave you this life, and what 
lie will have you do with it. Oh, God is so good ! 
lie likes to take us by the hand, and say, " My 
dear boy ; I want you to do this." When God 
teaches us. then we get very wise, and when God 
helps us we are strong, and when God keeps us 
we are safe. 



THE ONE LIFE. 29 

I ask, then, all who are not too old to be 
children, to come to God and find the mean- 
ing of life, and the strength to live it. You 
will hear a voice calling you ; it will not be 
in the wind which moves along the streets, 
and bears the wisdom of this world ; it will not 
be in the earthquake, which seems to shake 
society ; it will not be in the fires which men 
are kindling on the lull-tops. The voice of God 
comes to us, still, small, reaching our heart, and 
then whispering steadily, always the same word, 
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God ; thou shalt 
do the things which are pleasing in his sight." 
Over against this oneness of our life stands 
the oneness of our God ; and over against this 
singular, solitary responsibility stands the singu- 
lar grace of God. Our thoughts are not to be 
divided, our trust is not to be parted. There 
is only one name under heaven given among 
men whereby we can be saved. There is only 
one law for our life, only one duty ; there is 
only one Saviour. We need not waste a mo- 
ment choosing between God and Mammon, be- 
tween Christ and the world, between Christ and 
ourselves. Life is too hurried, life is too pre- 
cious for us to have two Redeemers between 
whom our wandering thoughts must roam. We 
have one God, one life, one Saviour, one Judge, 
one eternity. Among these special and singular 
days do we make up our thoughts and plans ; 



30 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

and when we commit our life to God, lie takes 
our purposes into his purposes ; he takes our life 
in to his keeping and guides us by his counsel. 
I hear this morning the moving of the 
chariot wheels of God, the chariot of fire and 
the horses of fire. They are coming this way. 
They stopped in the last week at one of our 
homes, and a saintly spirit went up into the rest 
of God. The chariot of fire and the horses of 
fire, they will stop at the door of the men 
who love God and have used this one life 
worthily, and lie who is ready shall ascend 
into the chariot and rise into the city of God 
which is forever, unto the everlasting youth, 
into the eternal years ; for God has taken his 
life that he may give it to him in the glories of 
immortality. 






II. 

WHO LOVED ME. 



Scripture Lesson : Romans viii : 14-39. 

Text : Who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians, 
ii : 20. 

THERE was an apostle who delighted to speak 
of himself as " that disciple whom Jesus 
loved. "' It was not that man who wrote the words 
which have now been read to you. Yet quite as 
much as his brother did St. Paul exult in the love 
which Christ had for him. Indeed, these words 
are a better expression of love than those which 
are used by the beloved disciple. St. John seems 
almost to shut out others ; " that disciple," he says, 
as if there were no others whom Jesus loved. 
This apostle is broader in his thought. He draws 
in the love of God to himself; he feels how much 
more it is to him than it is to the world ; he takes 
it to himself as if he stood alone ; yet he does not 
shut out the world from the affection which Christ 
offers to all for whom he gives himself. The 
words of St. Paul are broader, again, in that they 

31 



32 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

contain the method in which this love of Christ 
manifests itself. When St. John called himself 
" that disciple whom Jesus loved," or at the 
period in which he places those words, the great 
manifestation of the love of Christ had not 
been made. When St. Paul wrote, Christ had 
given himself to the cross, and the love had mani- 
fested itself in its own way. Therefore he wrote 
more fully as he rejoiced to write, " Who loved me 
and gave himself for me." Indeed, the expres- 
sions which St. Paul uses touching the love of 
Christ are all of the strongest character. He 
finds words insufficient as he rises into the vast 
regions which are beyond language, and beyond 
thought even. Thus, in his mind, the love of 
Christ while it is something to be known, " pass- 
etli knowledge," and reaches infinitely far away. 
Again, this love of Christ which comes to him 
is not something which touches his life, and with 
which he has no communion ; but it is something 
to which his own heart is so bound that it is not 
possible for anything in this world, or in any 
world, to part the two asunder. Again, this love 
which Christ gives to him is a love which not only 
brings him the victory, but, going beyond that, 
bestows more than the victory, for, " we are more 
than conquerors through him that loved us." 
And again, this love which Christ has for him is 
not only a love which incites him to good deeds, 
and inclines him to do those tilings which please 



WHO LOVED ME. 33 

Christ, but it comes with its constraining and 
compelling force, until he feels himself taken 
in hand by a strong power, and carried on to that 
which Christ requires of him. We have but to 
read these thoughts wherewith St. Paul expands 
the love of Christ, this sentence in which he 
declares that Christ loved him, to find how marvel- 
lous is this conception, how profoundly it is settled 
in his soul, and how wonderfully it is governing 
his life. 

If we ask when it was that this love was given 
to him, the thought rises yet more in our minds 
as we remember that this love of Christ was before 
Christ died for him, and when this apostle was not 
his friend. The man was indifferent to him ; the 
indifference grew into hostility ; the hostility broke 
into violence of the most cruel and relentless kind. 
Yet Christ gave himself for one who did not love 
him, and continued to give himself, and give his 
affection, when St. Paul had become the violent 
persecutor. We find this affection coming to him, 
and working out for him this help through the 
cross, at a time when, if we are to trust our own 
thoughts, he might be reached in some other way. 
For St. Paul was an honest and amiable man, 
an upright man, and a religious man after the cus- 
tom of his fathers, and very devout and very 
scrupulous in his religion; and it was when he 
was religious, and when he was honest, that 
Christ loved him and gave himself for him. His 



34 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

life had turned aside; lie was misunderstanding 
Christ. What was needed more than that the 
Spirit should come to him and inform him in a 
quiet way who Christ was, and, working within the 
recesses of his soul, turn his thoughts towards " 
Christ, and his life into the service of Christ? 
We are somewhat startled when we find that the 
want of this religious man is not met but by the 
Christ ; that the want of this upright man is not 
met by any instruction or any spiritual power, but 
only by the compassion of Christ who loved him. 
11 1, who am careful in my religion beyond all 
men — a Hebrew of the Hebrews — I claim this 
mercy of the Christ, who, that he might save me, 
loved me and gave himself for me." 

I think we can make a creed out of these words, 
and a very large creed, and a very deep and rich 
creed, whose articles might run somewhat in this 
way : I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who is 
strong enough to give himself for me. I believe 
in my necessity that the Son of God should give 
himself for me. I believe in the love of Christ 
which impelled him to give himself for me. I 
believe in a godly life which can be lived by the 
faith of the Son of God " who loved me and gave 
himself for me." I believe in a destiny of everlast- 
ing wealth and eternal blessedness which will be 
given to me for the sake of him " who loved me and 
gave himself for me." How large a confession it 
is ; how profound an utterance of his acknowl- 



WHO LOVED ME. 35 

edgment! What an expression of his reverence, 
of his faith, of his contrition, of his hope, of his 
rejoicing ! The whole expansion of his thought, 
the whole love of Christ, is condensed into this sin- 
gle sentence which spreads before us like the light of 
heaven, " Who loved me, and gave himself for me." 

It was very natural that the working out of this 
principle in the mind of the apostle should be 
what it was. Even without reading his history 
we know what must come of this which he has 
here told us. These three things must come, 
certainly. 

It must come to pass, first, that he will love the 
one who has loved him and given himself for him. 
There is but one thing which the loving heart is 
content with giving, and that is love. There is but 
one thing which the loving heart is content to 
receive, and that is love. It is an absurdity to offer 
anything less : it is an injustice to receive anything 
less. Even in our common relationships here there 
is but one thing which matches love, and that is 
love. A marriage between love on the one hand 
and money on the other is an abomination in the 
sight of God and man. Friendship which is between 
affection on the one hand and service on the other 
is a mockery and a shame. Piety which is 
between God's love on the one hand and a man's 
regard for the commandments on the other is not 
rational ; is not acceptable to the man's conscience, 
and is not received in the court of Heaven. But 



36 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

one thing fits to love ; but one thing contents 
love, either in the receiving or in the giving, and 
that is love itself. It is not until one comes to 
give this answer that he is very deeply conscious 
of that to which he is making his response. I 
suppose the reason that St. John applies to him- 
self the words which, so far as we have any record, 
no one else applied to him, " that disciple whom 
Jesus loved," was that he had a constant convic- 
tion that he was that disciple who loved Jesus. 
How much Peter loved he did not know; how 
much Andrew and Thomas loved he could not 
tell ; but he knew by every beating of his heart, 
by all the force of his thought and his love, that 
he loved Christ, and by that token he knew that 
he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. For it is 
inevitable when this man comes into the conscious- 
ness that Christ loves him, that his love should 
flow out as nothing else could draw it; that he 
should know there is nothing less that he can give ; 
there is nothing less that Christ will receive. 

Then there will come from this, in the second 
place, a trusting. It is impossible that one should 
know Christ and love him without trusting him, 
because he seeks to be depended upon according 
to that which he comes to do, and that which he 
promises to do, and that which we need to have 
him do. We cannot feel that he will fail us. 
The teaching of the apostle comes with force, 
and always awakens one response : u God who 



WHO LOVED ME. 37 

gave his Son for ns will give us everything that 
we need. Christ who gives himself for us will not 
withhold anything we need. It is enough that he 
beholds the necessity. Even there our Lord him- 
self left it : " Your Father knoweth ; " that is 
enough. Your Father loveth; that is enough. 
Therefore the man trusts him for the present and 
for the future. It is out of this consciousness of a 
common love that he comes into that sublime 
confidence : " I know whom I have believed." 
Well, what is he, who is he ? Who is this whom 
you believe ? "I believe in him who loved me 
and gave himself for me ; and I know that I shall 
receive a crown of righteousness in that day, for 
he who will give me the crown has already given 
me himself." He knows there can be no wasting 
of this love. Feeling within that his love for Christ 
can never change, he is yet more persuaded that 
the love of Christ can never change. Indeed, he 
might write out his own thought in the words of 
that English woman who has sung so well of the 
permanence of the love of Christ, the continuance 
of his affection for us : 

" Oh, never is Loved oxce, 

Thy word, thou Victim-Christ, misprized friend; 
Thy cross and curse may rend ; 

But having loved, Thou lovest to the end! " 

And he would make answer, still in the words of 
this sweet singer : 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

" Those never loved, 

Who dream that they loved once." 

I think that by all which is true in the sacred 
affections of our hearts, we believe that if there is 
anything about us which will last, it is our love 
for that which is lovely. The old doctrine, so 
pleasant even in the sound of its words, of the 
perseverance of the saints is nothing but the 
doctrine of the permanence of love. As long as 
Christ's love is true and fresh, they who love him 
once love him forever. You ask the assurance 
that we shall enjoy his presence forever : it is 
that we love him here to-day. I know that it seems 
sometimes as if love had passed away. It may be 
because it never existed; it was a mere emotion 
not worthy of that God-word, love. It may be 
that it is merely obscured, as sometimes that 
which is recent comes in to cover that which is 
dearer to our hearts. Still, the singer is true, and 
the Christ is true, and your hearts are true: 
" Those never loved who dream that they loved 
once." They who feel within them the assurance 
of an unchanging love for Christ need no argu- 
ment to prove to them the unchanging love of 
Christ for them; and upon that they rest their 
hope in quiet trust. 

Then there follows a third thing, of course, and 
that is, the pleasing Christ. For the love at once 
seeks to do that which will gratify the one who 
is loved, recognizing this out of its own expe- 



WHO LOVED ME. 39 

rience, that there is nothing so exacting as love; 
that we always demand the most of those we love 
the best; that wc are always the most solicitous 
for the welfare of those who are dearest to ns. 
You are more anxious that 3-our child should do 
his best than that my child should do his best. 
You always hold up the highest standard before 
him who is nearest to you, and expect from him 
the most truthfulness, the most kindness, and the 
most devotion. Yet on the other hand there is noth- 
ing so small, if it be heartily given, that it is not dear 
to you — the flower which your child has picked 
from the wayside, the bright stone which he brings 
in out of the road, the simple utterance of his affec- 
tion, the simple clasping of his arms about your 
neck. There is nothing too small for love to take, 
there is nothing too great for love to ask. One 
who knows this, finding it in the love of Christ for 
him and his love for Christ, at once feels that 
nothing can be too great that he shall do ; that he 
can count all things but loss for the excellency of 
the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, and count 
all things easy which shall please him who pleased 
not himself. 

The apostle has come here upon the law of 
life. The one principle of life is stated in the 
strong and precious words before us. First, 
this is in God's life, for God is love. God is more 
than love ; God is light also. God's love is not 
centred and restrained within his own heart; it 



40 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

must go out, or it is not love ; it must give itself, 
or it is not love. He is not content with living 
and moving eternally in the sphere of his own 
affection, but his love must reach out to men, to 
every one who lives. Hence, if God loves men he 
must go out to men ; he must meet them where 
they are ; he must meet them in their necessities 
and do for them what love requires. If at any 
time it becomes necessary, he must put himself in 
sacrifice for men. I wish that we might see the 
marvellous reaching out of this simple truth. It 
was the fine saying of a man whom we all delight 
to honor, who never stood with more majesty than 
when recently among missionaries and the friends 
of missions he declared the sufficiency of the 
love of God, and uttered that sentence which 
might well be committed to our memory as a 
fact of history and a prophecy for all that is 
to be. " Christianity proclaims," he said, " in 
three words, of one syllable each, the grandest 
discovery ever made, the sublimest truth ever 
uttered." There are but three words in the lan- 
guage which answer that description. There are 
but three words in the Bible which can come to 
your minds in that connection — the grand, divine, 
eternal truth that k< God is love." It is God's 
love that is his life. Take it away, and you have 
taken away so much from God ; you have taken 
God from God. The principle of God's life within 
himself, the principle of God's life among the 



WHO LOVED ME. 41 

angels and among men, is the principle of a love 
which goes out and finds men, and blesses them 
according to their need. Hence, if one asks in 
Gethsemane why it is not possible that the sac- 
rifice may pass away, there is but one answer. If 
it is a matter of will, it can pass away. Why can- 
not the cup pass unless it be drained by the 
Christ? Simply because those whom God loves 
need to have it drained. Love will stop at noth- 
ing. If men can be blessed by seeing the grapes 
upon the vine, let it be so ; if they can be blessed 
with maxims of ethics and philosophy, let it be 
so. The time has come when those whom God 
loves can only be blessed in that cup ; therefore it 
is not possible that the cup should pass away until 
it has been drained. And the reason it is not pos- 
sible is, that God is love. 

We come again upon this principle of life 
in our Lord. Jesus Christ, who is here in the 
world as the embodiment of the thought : " God 
so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten 
Son." Christ so loved the world that he came into 
it, and went about with ministries of mercy, until at 
last he stretched out his hands upon the cross, lov- 
ing men and giving himself for men. Take away 
the love from Christ and what have you left ? 
Possibly the teaching, perhaps the purity of his 
life ; perhaps an example white as marble, and 
moral maxims cold as snowflakes and as little 
nourishing to the heart. The one thing which 



4-2 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

makes Christ clear to you, the Saviour, the Com- 
forter, the Helper, is that the life of Christ is love. 
Hence, obviously, when you come to the Chris- 
tian life the principle is the same. There is but one 
life in Heaven and in earth, and that is God's life. 
The life that we live in the flesh is the life of God 
in us ; and when we come to the Christian life, it 
is the life of Christ. There never was but one 
Christian life, and that is Christ's life. I will not 
play with words. If one chooses to .say that this 
is a Christian nation, and that men can be Chris- 
tians though they do not believe in Christ, very 
well. They are not the Christians of the New 
Testament. You know the testimony of the poor 
Chinaman at the West who found himself abused, 
insulted in the streets, beaten and stoned, and who 
wrote back the piteous tale in his simplicity : "The 
men who did it are Christians, but they are not 
Jesus-Christians." Now the only " Jesus-Chris- 
tians " in the world are the Christians in whom 
Jesus is. It is only as Christ is in us that we are 
Christians ; it is only as Christ's life is in us that 
we have the Christian life. Even as it flowed out 
from the hands and the lips and the spirit of Jesus 
of Nazareth must it flow out in our lives, in all 
that we do and in all that we are, as we go our 
way through the world. It comes to take us up 
and control us and exalt us forever — the one 
Christian life. I can come to Christ as the 
greatest of teachers and sit calmly down to receive 



WHO LOVED ME. 43 

his instructions ; I can come to him and mark the 
purity and simplicity of his example ; I can follow 
him until I am attracted by the charity and benev- 
olence of his spirit; but I have not found the 
Christ. No man whose heart was ever full of 
the love of Christ was content to say, " Who 
loved me and taught me the Sermon on the 
Mount ; " " Who loved me and healed the sick and 
raised the dead ; " " Who loved men and taught 
them by a holy example that he could do what 
they could never do." No Christian heart talks 
in this way. It is the heart far away from him 
which says it ; it is the Christian, perhaps, but it is 
not the " Jesus-Christian." " Thou shalt call his 
name Jesus, for he shall teach men to pay their 
debts," — who said it ? Never the Christ, never 
the disciple, never the man whom Jesus loved. 
u Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save 
his people from their sins." Now we know what 
St. Paul means: "Who loved me and gave " — 
not his words, not his miracles, — " who gave him- 
self for me." I gather up his teachings and all 
which is matchless and precious in his life, in this 
one gift ; for when I have my friend, I have my 
friend's house, I have his words, I have his ex- 
ample, I have his love ; I get all when I get him ; 
I get everything which any one else gets, and I 
get more when I get the Christ who gave him- 
self. Taking himself in his hands, he gave him- 
self over to me and became mine, my own, my 



44 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

own Saviour. I do not believe that I shall ever 
learn, even from the Sermon on the Mount, the 
spirit which will make me kneel down before my 
Judas and wash his feet. If ever in God's grace I 
become able to do that, it will be because there 
stands before me the Christ girded with a towel, 
and with a basin of water in his hands, and love 
in his heart. I do not believe that I can ever go in 
self-forgetful devotion through the world because 
I know that Christ fed the multitudes and taught 
sweet lessons of charity. I do not believe that I 
can ever lose my life for Christ's sake while I content 
myself with gathering up his parables and taking 
their blessed lessons to my heart. But at the 
cross there is this spirit ; in the cross I seek it ; 
from the cross I take it. " I can do all things," 
do you say, " for I know that Christ stilled the 
tempest on the sea of Galilee, and I know that he 
said we should render unto Ctesar the things that are 
Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's ? " 
Oh ! do it if you can. If I am ever able, I believe 
if you are ever able, to make up a Christian life 
in the world, it will be under the constraint of 
that word which this man wrote :. " I can do all 
things through Christ," " who loved me and gave 
himself for me." 

I think we have found many instances besides 
those which are recorded in Holy Scripture 
where this principle rules. We need not go out 
of our own homes to find the controlling power of 



WHO LOVED ME. 45 

love, if not the freshness and the strength of it ; the 
love which makes a man toil unto old age for 
those whom he loves ; which makes a mother 
watch through the weary nights, nor mark the 
hours, for those she loves ; the pure sparks from 
the glowing heart of God's affection. If we look 
at those who have stood out with marked lives 
of usefulness and devotion, we find this principle. 
That missionary mother separating from her chil- 
dren on a foreign shore, sending them away from 
her home that they might receive the nurture of 
her native land, and as the boat pushes out which 
is never to come back, lifting up her heart to 
say, "I do this for thee, Jesus," has a love like the 
love of Christ ; "I do this for thee, Jesus, for 
thou hast left thy Father's house for me," that is 
her thought. Then there are those words of 
that noble man who wrote to his children in 
England, out of the heart of Africa, " Tell them I 
have left them for the love of Jesus, and they 
must love him too." Hear his cry, " O divine 
Love, I have not loved Thee strongly, deeply, 
warmly enough." " O Jesus, fill me with Thy love 
now, and, I beseech Thee, accept me, and use me 
a little for Thy glory." There is but one force 
which can do this ; there is but one power 
which bears men into this divine usefulness; 
and the power lies within this brief sentence : " I 
do this for him who loved me and gave himself for 
me." 



46 VAMjiiiijJijrJii oAtltJ&VJX 8, 

Friends, the lesson for every one of us is this 
— not for those without the Church more than for 
those within the Church ; it is the great lesson for 
all men : — that if we are to live the life which 
is worthy of us, it must be as we receive the 
life of the Christ, and the Christ at his best. 
When your life moving up blends with his life, 
when the love of Christ comes into } T our heart 
to take possession of it, there can be but one 
result. It will save you, for Christ gives him- 
self to save sinners ; it will bring you up into the 
Christly life, for Christ comes, the vine, to give his 
life unto the branches ; it will govern your 
thoughts, your purposes, your steps ; it will exalt 
your life and sanctify and glorify your spirit ; it 
will bring you at last into that grand fulfilment 
which the beloved disciple saw and could not de- 
scribe : " We shall be like him, for we shall see 
him as he is." Whosoever sees Christ as he is, 
sees Christ loving him and giving himself for him. 
Oh ! see it, friends ; look until you see it ; look 
until the sun goes down ; look until the morning 
comes ; wait, gaze, look, look with longing eyes 
until you see it ! When that thought becomes 
your thought, when it takes hold upon you as 
a part of your life, then will God be glorified in 
you, and you will live in the faith of the Son of 
God who loved you and gave himself for you. 

Let me turn as I close to the teaching of Christ 
himself — uttered not in Syriac syllables, nor 



WHO LOVED ME. 47 

in English sentences, which we might not under- 
stand, and whose power and beauty we might not 
perceive — the words of Christ spoken in this 
body of Christ which is here set forth again before 
us. There is Christ. Do you want to come close 
to him? You will find him there. He said that 
we must eat his flesh to have life ; we must drink 
his blood to have life ; we have not seen him 
until we have seen him on the cross ; we have not 
found his love until we have found his love cruci- 
fying itself ; we have not entered into his grace 
until his pierced hands have held us against the 
bosom of his divine, redeeming love. 

They say sometimes in Scotland, in their quaint 
phrase, that the Lord's table is tt fenced." You 
do not see the fence here ; there is none — not a 
wall, not a door open or shut. There is but one 
guard around that table : a circle of light stream- 
ing out from the bread and from the wine, a circle of 
light around it, made of these divine words : " Who 
loved me, and gave himself for me." You must 
not think to step over it, to pass under it, to re- 
move it. You draw near, and stooping down, you 
lift it in your hands, you hold it to your heart, 
and thus you come to the Lord's table, which is 
the table of your Saviour, and he gives you to eat 
and drink with him. There is no fence about the 
Church. On its threshold lies a single line : " Who 
loved me, and gave himself for me." Take it up 
in your hands and hold it in your heart and the 



48 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Church is open. The door of Heaven is always 
open. Across the threshold of Heaven there lies 
one line of light. You take it into your life and 
pass on with it to the throne, carrying it in your 
rejoicing, "Who loved me, and gave himself for 



Oh, dearly, dearly has he loved, 
And we must love him too, 

And trust in his redeeming blood, 
And try his works to do. 



III. 

CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 



Scripture Lesson : S. Matt, vii : 13-29. 

Text : Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Joshua 
xxiv : 15. 

I MUST ask you to read the last two chapters 
of this Book of Joshua, to recall to your 
minds the circumstances under which these words 
were spoken. Joshua was an old man ; his life as 
a chieftain and a statesman was about to end. 
He was giving his last words to the people. He 
did not carry them through the details of the life 
which they were to live ; he did not give them 
commandments arranged in systematic order; he 
brought them rather to one point where they 
were to stand, and, standing there, or moving 
from that point towards God, they were to make 
up their life. He did not mean that they were to 
choose between one God and another, although 
the form of his words might suggest that. He 
knew there was not a man among them who 
would choose the gods of the Amorites, or the 
gods en the other side of the river, instead of 

49 



50 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Jehovah. What he did was to state in a strong 
way their duty and privilege ; that they should 
choose as he had done ; that they should choose 
the Lord to be their God. Moses had been 
placed in somewhat similar circumstances on the 
day of the worship of the golden calf, when, 
standing before the people, he cried with a voice 
of indignation and reverence, " Who is on the 
Lord's side? Let him come unto me." Later 
than this, in the days of Baal, Elijah cried with 
the same spirit: "How long halt ye between two 
opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow him." 

It is evident that this mode of presenting the 
claim which God makes upon us is somewhat dif- 
ferent from that in which it is usually presented. 
This form of words has very much passed our of 
use, and the thought which lies within the words 
has been in a measure superseded. We are not 
saying to-day, " Choose you whom ye will serve ; " 
we are saying, " choose you whom ye will trust." 
We have passed over from this idea of a life 
which is to be lived for God to a life in which God 
is to take us up and carry us on, promising us 
Heaven, alluring us with pleasures all the way, and 
indulging our wishes at every point, if so be, in 
our condescension, we will consent to be saved. I 
think that it is for lack of the strong element which 
the Scriptures always present, that it is man's 
duty to obey God, our piety has fallen so much 
upon inefficiency ; that it lacks nerve ;* that even 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 51 

our belief of the truth grows feeble and our obedi- 
ence of the truth feebler ; that our devotion to 
God is an uncertain thing, and our service almost 
as variable as our states of mind. We need to 
have breathed into our thoughts a feeling of duty ; 
a sense of something which we must do ; of a life 
which we are to live. I gather it all up into this 
saying of the old Hebrew statesman in which we 
are called upon to choose whom we will serve ; to 
choose God and to serve him continually. 

While the thought of trusting Christ and the 
offers of his grace appear so much in the New 
Testament, this thought of serving God is the 
underlying principle throughout. Our Lord 
never, in all his offer of rest and peace and mercy, 
lost sight of this. What was his most common 
idea of that life into which he called men ? It was 
life in a kingdom. " The kingdom of God," "The 
kingdom of heaven," were his common phrases. 
Men are to live under the eye of a king and to 
obey him to the end. So, when he presented the 
kingdom of heaven with all its delights under the 
image of a marriage feast, it was not a feast 
spread by the wayside where men were working ; 
it was not a table laid in the thickets where they 
might be reclining; it was a feast within the gates 
of the king's house. If any man ate of the feast, 
he came up out of the highways, passed through the 
door, entered into the place where the table was 
spread, and there took his place. Christ knew 



50 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

nothing of any joy for a man outside of the king's 
house. So it was with the parable of the prodigal 
son, in which our Lord did not promise certain 
joys to be had by remaining in the " f ar coun- 
try ; " he did not teach that there were for this 
wretch a robe, and a ring, and a kiss, and a fatted 
calf, and all the blessings of life, while he was by 
his own act an exile and wanderer, or that there 
was one of them anywhere but where his father 
was. If he was to be blessed as he wished, he 
must go home, and within his father's house 
he would find what was there alone — his father's 
blessing and his grace. Indeed, the whole thought 
of the redemption of Christ rests upon this. 
The cross of Christ springs indeed out of God's 
love, but it holds fast to this idea of the obedience 
of the soul to God. Christ bids men leave their 
boats and follow him — leave their lives and 
follow him. The order of events is like 
this : First, God and his will ; then men obeying 
God's will and living in happiness and holiness ; 
then men breaking with God's will and passing 
into sinfulness ; then God coming to ransom men 
out of this state of sin and misery, and to bring 
them back into, the state in which they were 
before, establishing them again in integrity that 
they might have the blessing of God. If we view 
this life, as we sometimes do, as a road, men have 
stepped off the road and wandered away from 
it. When God comes to them he does not point 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 53 

to a new path, or make a new highway for them ; 
he brings them back into the old road, that, walking 
thereon, they may go to the end to which they 
would have gone if they had never turned away. 
This truth of obedience is in entire harmony with 
the tender thoughts applied to God. If we speak 
of God as love, we have asserted the strongest of 
all reasons why we should serve him. If we 
call God our father, we have declared at once the 
very reason why we ought to obey him and 
seek his pleasure in all things. If we speak of the 
love we have for God, w^e have declared the very 
principle which will make us do his will. The 
soul of obedience is love, and the body of love 
is obedience. 

Passing from these primary considerations, let 
us notice a few things. In the first place, this : 
that the law of God, which is given to us to be 
obej'ed, is the expression of the nature of God. 
There is a great difference between the law of 
God and the law of men. The law of God is a 
necessary law ; it is simply his own nature opening 
itself out. It may very well happen, that a king 
may come to the throne and find the constitution 
and legislation all prepared. He may not like the 
constitution, but he must administer it ; he may 
not approve the laws, but he must administer 
the laws. He is held to this although his own life 
and his own spirit may be at variance with the 
laws all the way through. It is not at all so with 



54 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

God. God is before all constitutions and all 
statutes and all principles of life ; and these prin- 
ciples are but the expression of himself. God is 
love : God's love utters itself. God is holiness ; 
this holiness makes itself known in holy desires 
and holy commandments for the children of men. 
It is very much like the sun and its light. The 
sun gives light because it is the sun; it is the 
nature of it to shine ; and God gives command- 
ments because it is his nature to give them. Do 
you not, even as earthly fathers and mothers, tell 
your children what you know they ought to 
do? That is a little of the same principle which 
makes God tell you and me what we ought to do, 
because this is the right thing to do ; because this 
is the pleasant thing to do; because this is the 
profitable thing to do, but above all because this 
is the right thing to do. So long as God is 
God he must tell us what to do ; so long as God is 
hol} r , he will tell us holy things to do ; so long as 
he is God, we ought to do those things which 
he gives us to do. Indeed, it is simply out of the 
question that we should have God without having 
his commandments. To return to the figure of 
the sun, you do not get the benefit of the sun un- 
less you get its light. Without that the orb yonder 
in the heavens is little to you. They have been 
reckoning up its distance, whether it be ninety- 
two or ninety-five millions of miles away. It 
might be a million times further than it is ; it is 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 55 

nothing to you, unless it gives you something and 
you take that something. It is little to you that 
there is a God yonder, unless something comes 
down from him so that you can take hold of it ; un- 
less his law comes down, and you know what to do ; 
unless his strength comes down, and you are able 
to do it. Without the gift, it is to small purpose 
that yonder shines the sun, or yonder reigns 
the God. God gives these laws which are a part 
of himself. He speaks, and it is commandment ; 
he looks, and it is statute ; he wishes, and it 
is law; he brings his great desires and counsels 
among men that we may take them and make our 
life out of them. It is simply God out of his own 
nature breathing his nature, as the perfume comes 
from the flower, as light comes from the sun, 
as fruit comes from the tree, as goodness comes 
from the good, breathing his own nature in com- 
mandments down among the children of men. 
" Choose you," says this old Hebrew statesman, 
" choose you to take the light of the sun; choose 
you to take the fruit of the tree ; choose you 
to take the nature of God which along these lines 
of light comes down to you for your guidance and 
your comfort." It is not meant, again let me say, 
that we should choose between God and another. 
I suppose that to none of us does this choice 
present itself to-day in any tangible shape. How- 
ever men may reason it out, whatever we may say 
in our homilies and exhortations, I presume it 



56 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

is not true of any one here to-day that he has 
chosen deliberately to serve any one except God. 
He may be serving some one else, but that ever he 
has said to any one else in heaven or earth, 
" Thou art my God and I will serve thee," is not 
to be believed. Yet it may come to pass prac- 
tically that a man does serve another. We are 
not to consider here the relative value of this 
or that which he serves. My only interest to-day, 
brethren, is to beg you to choose God and to serve 
him. Whether it be Baal, or Ashtaroth, or the 
gods of the Amorites, is comparatively a small 
matter. Take any one according to }^our fancy, 
if from among these you are to make your choice. 
But with all earnestness I pray you to choose the 
only one whose right it is to reign ; the only one 
whom you have a right to serve. 

The choice of a principle and method of life 
ma}' be made by a natural and simple process. I 
may consult simply my own pleasure. I may say, 
" I will do those things which I wish to do." 
I am very likely to do this carelessly, floating on 
from day to daj r , planning to-clay what I want 
to do to-day, waking to-morrow morning and 
planning again what I want to do in that day. 
In all I stand up as the object of my own thought 
and care. I may do this wilfully, or I may do it 
without a conscious volition. 

I may choose to do what other men wish to have 
me do ; I may do this deliberately, or I may do it 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 57 

out of an easy good nature which tries from hour 
to hour to please my friends. I may choose to 
do what others are doing; J may do this delib- 
erately, or I may do it by that force of imitation 
which makes me, in my amiability, follow in 
the steps of others. I may combine these. On 
some days I may serve myself and on some my 
fellows. I may vary these methods, or unite them 
into one, so that I can hardly tell whether I 
am living for myself or for humanity. There 
are many varieties of this idolatry. Against all of 
them stands out the one who alone is God, and 
the exhortation of the preacher is, " Choose the 
Lord God and serve him." 

When a man has done this it is very evident 
that he stands in the way of righteousness and of 
blessing. I have said little thus far of that which 
we term Christianity ; I have said nothing about 
coming to Christ to be saved. Yet I wish to 
recall this single point, and I pray that this 
may be noticed now, before we pass to anything 
else. Choose God, Jehovah, the maker of heaven 
and earth, your maker, your father ; choose him 
and serve him. Determine with yourself this : 
" Whatever God asks, whatever is his command- 
ment, I will obe}*. Heaven and earth may pass 
away, I will be true to this. Come sunshine or 
storm, come wealth or poverty, come life or death, 
I will be true to God." They said to Napoleon 
when he was before a certain castle, "Sire, if you 



58 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

attempt to take this castle it will cost you the 
lives of ten thousand men." " Then I will give 
the lives of ten thousand men." So choose God. 
Men will tell you that it will change your life : 
very well. They will tell you that it will make 
you pray : that it Avill bring you into the church : 
very well. If it cost you ten thousand lives, pay 
them for your own life ten thousand times over. 
It is this for which I plead. Choose God always 
to be served, wherever he leads, whatever he 
forbids, whatever he requires. The man who shall 
do this stands with his face towards God, and with 
his life towards God; he stands in the way in 
which he shall be blessed. Very certain is it that 
God will come to this man ; that God's grace will 
find him. He may never have heard of Christ, 
but he will find Christ, or Christ will find him. 
The love of God looking upon him where he 
stands, will come flowing out of the heavens until 
it gathers about his feet and takes him up and he 
is borne away on the grace of Christ. There can 
be nothing which will commend a man more to 
the grace of God than the single purpose to do the 
will of God. The man who stands facing God 
will be found of God. I believe the great reason 
why men do not find God is because they are not 
looking for him. They say, "I will find his 
mercy; I will find blessing at his hands; and after 
a time I will determine to serve him ; as if they 
said, " I will take a voyage to Europe after I have 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 59 

wandered over the mountains of Switzerland." 
There is bat one thing first in any right life ; 
there is but one thing first in any Christian career ; 
and that is to choose God and pledge the life 
to him. Then God comes to help and save the 
man. The good shepherd seeketh the sheep upon 
the mountains to bring him down to the fold. If 
the shepherd be going one way, and the sheep, 
even with the purpose to find the fold, be going 
another way, they may never meet. If the shep- 
herd is seeking the sheep, and the sheep is seeking 
the fold, and seeking the fold is going directly 
towards the shepherd, they will meet; they are 
sure to meet. If Christ goes out from God to find 
a man, and the man is coming towards God, 
they will come together. Two trains going in 
opposite directions on the same track are certain 
to meet. Christ coming from God and man going 
towards God are sure to meet. Therefore I 
say, set your face towards God and you are facing 
the approaching Christ. Indeed, if we take 
Christ's work itself, we find that the object of his 
life in the world was to bring men into this obedi- 
ence to God. We have not estimated his work at 
all correctly or thoroughly unless we see that the 
outcome of it all was to bring men to God. It is 
a thoroughly false idea that Christ came into the 
world simply to make men happy, or siniplj- to 
put men in one place rather than another. Christ 
came into the world to bring men back where 



CO CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

they always ought to have beeu ; and he will 
never be content till he has done this ; and he 
will never have saved a man until he brings 
him there. You may throw yourself into the 
water and drown, trying to save a drowning man ; 
but all your pains go for nothing so long as 
the man remains under the water. I say it rever- 
ently, the Son of God may die for sinners, but 
so long as men continue in their sin he has died 
in vain. The redemption of Christ may be able 
to save men from sin unto the uttermost, but 
so long as men will continue to sin they are 
not saved. It is only as we come where we are 
right with God that we are saved ; and when 
we are there, nothing can harm us. Do you not 
mark that the shepherd when he goes forth for 
the sheep, and finds him upon the mountains, does 
not there pity him, weep over him, tearing his own 
hands upon the thorns to make a pretty little fold 
for him, and shelter him and feed him with the 
scant herbage which grows in that frigid clime, 
trying to make the sheep happy there ? I believe 
that is the idea which a great many people have 
of Christ's work : that he comes down into this 
poor, broken world and tries to make us contented 
here ; tries to take off a little of the cold, the sin, 
the unrighteousness and unbelief; whereas Christ 
never stays upon the mountain longer than is 
necessary ; he will not leave the lamb upon the 
mountain, but lake him in his arms or on ,his 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 61 

shoulder and carry him down into the fold, and 
never stop until he is there. He is no friend 
to the prodigal, who, finding him down in the 
" far country," says, " Oh ! man, this is a hard 
life ; this feeding swine . is unprofitable ; I will 
give you a more comfortable situation near hy ; I 
will give you better wages. You are clothed 
with rags : I will give you good clothing ; you are 
hungry : I will feed you " — he is no friend who 
says that. The only one who can befriend the 
prodigal is he who says, " Oh ! man, come home. 
No matter what you do here ; no matter how you 
fare here ; no matter whether you are in rags and 
hungry, or not ; you are wretched ; you are wrong 
here ; the only kindness I can do you is to carry 
you home to your father's house." That is the 
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I think you know that I believe in the kind- 
ness and love of Christ for men ; but to make 
men contented in disobedience is not his kind- 
ness. To make a man happy before he has chosen 
to serve God, it is not right; it is not kind. It 
would be almost working against God himself 
if Christ tried to make us contented before we 
have chosen God that we may serve him. If 
Christ makes our homes happy without God, that 
we may be contented in them ; if he soothes our 
sin, and takes off the grosser form of it, so that 
our conscience may not trouble us ; he is no 
longer kind, for he is keeping us away from 



62 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

God; keeping us still guilty; leaving us still lost. 
He is not kind until, dying for us, he takes us to 
bring us back to God. The work of Christ is 
that you and I may choose God and serve him. 

What shall we do, then, we who know Christ's 
name to-day ? I have spoken of those who might 
come to God not knowing Christ. We know 
Christ : what are we to do ? Manifestly, we are 
to use what we know. If } r ou know where a man 
is, then act as if you knew where he is. There 
are times when you want to find some one and 
you do not know where he is. You look for him 
in one house and another, one town and another, 
one country and another ; but if you know where 
the man is, you go directly there. If you do not 
know where God is, search the heavens and 
earth until you find him. Suppose you want to 
find what a man's will is : you conjecture, you 
inquire, you ask in vain in a hundred places ; but 
if you can find the man, by asking him you 
find what his will is. That is the right thing 
to do. We want to come to God using what we 
know ; not setting aside our knowledge of Christ 
and his truth; not setting aside the Gospel as if 
we were to come to God without the Gospel. We 
take what we know. And what do we know? 
Why, we know that God is a great deal nearer to 
us than the stars are ; we know that God is here 
in Christ his Son seeking to reconcile us unto 
himself. We want to find God, we who know 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 63 

Christ. Then what shall we do ? Why, "come 
where God is closest to us, and that is in Christ. 
Find God where he is. Suppose I want to find 
you at this moment, because I have a message 
which I must give to you at once. Should I not 
be foolish if I should go to your house and call 
for you tnere, when I know all the time that you 
are here? Should I not be more foolish, if, try- 
ing to find God, I pass away from God when he 
is here, in Christ his Son, and look far away 
for him, wandering over the long path and seek- 
ing him at the distant door of Heaven ? We 
shall find God where he is nearest. 

I want to know the will of God because I want 
to do it : where shall I find it ? Christ declares 
the will of God and illustrates it in his life. I 
come to him and learn it from him. Or, I want 
to find the grace of God ; I want to know whether 
I, who have wandered away, can come back ; 
whether I, who have done wrong, can be forgiven. 
I ask the astronomers on their nightly watch- 
towers to tell me what the Pleiades say, or what 
is written on the bands of Orion. Why should I 
not reverence the astronomer? But what are the 
stars telling ? What can any one say of the grace 
of God save God himself? God comes with his 
grace and Christ declares it, and I come to him 
because he knows, and I want to know, whether I 
can be forgiven, and how I can be forgiven. 
Knowing Christ I come to Christ, because in 



64 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Christ God is nearest, because in Christ God's 
will is most plainly declared, because in Christ 
alone God's grace is manifest, and finding him I 
find God. This, then, becomes for us who are 
intelligent men to-day, who know of Christ and 
have his gospel, the one thing to do : to choose to 
serve God, and to choose God who comes to us in 
Christ, whose will is declared by Christ, whose 
grace in Christ works out our redemption. 

But let me ask you to notice again, that this 
redemption in itself is not the place where we are 
to stop. It is to bear us on to something else. 
It is not the final stage ; it is not our rest ; it 
carries us on to something beyond it. Christ came 
to bring men to God ; and not until he has brought 
them to God and given them to God — God's ran- 
somed children, who are henceforth to live with 
him and obey him — has he done his work. I know 
that beautiful line of the hymn ; I would not take 
a note from its divine and blessed melody. It is 
true, but, like most single lines, it is but a fragment 
of the truth : — 

Simply to thy cross I cling. 

Yes ; with the arms of a clinging faith. I shrink 
from going on, lest any one should think I do not 
make enough of that which is the heart and life of 
piety, the simple trust in Christ and him crucified. 
But what did Christ ever say, what did the apos- 
tles ever teach, which warrants you in saying, 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 65 

" All I have to do is to cling to the cross ? " 
What did Jesus say about the cross? He said, 
"Take it up and go about obeying the will of 
God." Cling to the cross, not as one who is 
weary and is there finding rest alone ; not merely 
as one who is guilty and is there finding pardon 
alone. Cling to it, doing the will of God. Where 
would the world have been to-day if John, and 
Peter, and Paul had been content to cling to the 
cross and do nothing more? You have God to 
serve, and a man cannot do all the will of God 
sitting in a sanctuary, kneeling in a closet, clasp- 
ing his arms around a sacred tree, or laying his 
cheek against the wood that is red with the blood 
of the Christ of God. By Christ alone are we 
saved, and Christ we are to follow. Cling to the 
cross, but not " simply." Cling to the cross, but 
go about clinging to it. Cling to the cross, but 
obey God while you cling, following his command- 
ments with your deeds, glorifying him upon the 
earth, finishing the work which he has given you 
to do. Cling to the cross until the eternal glory 
comes ; but while you cling, follow Christ whither- 
soever he leads you. 

If we are not to rest upon redemption, but to 
go through it to that which is beyond, still less are 
we to rest upon virtue. Let us pause long enough 
to pay a tribute of sincerest respect to honesty, 
truth-telling, charity, virtue. But should a man 
rest in these ? Is it enough for a man that he be 



66 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

honest with all the men who live on streets running 
east and west, though he be not honest with men 
living on streets running north and south? Is it 
honest for a man to do what he ought with his 
neighbor, and not to do what he ought with his 
God? Is it right for a man to love his mother and 
not his father ? Is it right for a man to love his 
father here and not his Father there ? What is 
honesty ? It is a poor, bruised, disfigured image 
of honesty which men bow down before, when all 
their life through they are dishonest because they 
do not serve God with their heart and with their 
life. There is no reason why a man should do 
the will of men which does not hold him to the will 
of God. The reasons which bind a man to love his 
father, hold him to the love of God. Why, then, 
rest in this which is almost sure to slip into vanity 
and self praise, the feeling that we are honest, 
paying our debts, dealing justly, and that this is 
enough ? Poor father, I pity you if you have a 
thankless child ! Sometimes I want to pity God 
for thankless children ; for honest men who never 
pray, virtuous men who never love him, truth- 
telling men who never choose to serve him. 

How beautiful are those Psalms, and the 
other passages of the old and new Scriptures 
which describe the life of a good man ! How 
wonderfully have they been abused; as if one 
should take the jewels from the king's crown and 
tread them in the dust. The fifteenth Psalm : 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 67 

"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who 
shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh 
uprightly, and worketh righteousness." Strange 
as it seems, men have even used that Psalm as a 
reason for not being Christians. They repeat its 
words and keep away from Christ. And that 
other verse : " What doth the Lord require of 
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to 
walk humbly with thy God." Men have even 
taken that as a reason for not loving Christ. 
"Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this 
is the whole duty of man " — " therefore we need 
not be Christians," some have said. Oh, the wrong, 
the injustice, the cruelty of it ! These passages of 
Scripture all describe truly the estate of men when 
God is pleased with them, but they describe an 
estate into which we are to enter. Christ's work 
in the world is to enable us to enter into it. He 
comes that the fifteenth Psalm may be true of us. 
Change the prophet's question. What doth the 
Lord require of thee in order that thou shoulclst 
see the mountains and valleys of Switzerland? 
To go out in the morning and walk through val- 
leys and over mountains with open eyes ; that is 
all. Do it to-morrow morning, and will you see 
the Alps? What doth the Lord require of a man 
who wants to see the mountains but to look ? 
Why, there is a small matter of getting to Switz- 
erland which ought not to be neglected. " Lord, 
who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? " — there is a 



68 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

little matter of getting into the tabernacle before 
you abide there. We enter by Christ's work. "He 
that hath clean hands," we say calmly ; but let us 
remember that Christ has come to make our hands 
clean. "Blessed are the pure in heart." Christ 
came to make us pure in heart. When Christ's 
work is done in us, then the Psalm becomes the 
glad reality of our life. Let us never mistake the 
end for the means, or the means for the end. God 
would bring us into this righteousness, but the 
way to come into it is by the choice of God, and 
Christ the Son of God, our Saviour. 

As I have thought upon these things there has 
come to me again and again that incident in 
Elijah's life, when he stood by the river through 
whose parted waters he had just walked, and was 
to be taken away. There appeared a chariot of 
fire and horses of fire, and the Lord took the 
prophet in the chariot, and carried him up into 
the glory. I read it now as a parable ; the 
chariot of fire and the horses of fire remind us 
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has come where we 
are. The chariot is not heaven, but the horses 
can take us up into heaven. " The chariot of 
fire and the horses of fire " are from God, and are to 
take us to God. We come to Christ, we enter 
into Christ, and Christ bears us up to our Father's 
house. Read that sentence of our Lord's own 
words : " No man cometh unto the Father but 
by me ; " and this other sentence, which is less 



CHOOSE WHOM YE WILL SERVE. 69 

familiar, " No man can come to me except the 
Father which hath sent me draw him." We 
have God seeking us, bringing us to Christ the 
Saviour, and then Christ taking us up into the 
tabernacle and temple of our God. 

What do I beg for to-day, then? That with 
one act we will choose God, bringing our will 
to bear upon this act, using our thought and our 
life until we choose God and find him and dwell 
in his grace. 

Can we do this? Can we not agree so far as 
this : that we will take the Lord to be our God ? 
Can we agree upon this to-day, brethren, and 
then pass on to the study of God's will and to 
the results of it? Here, this morning, I speak to 
you and I speak to my own heart. Can we cov- 
enant with God so far as this, that we will serve 
him with all our heart and with all our life ? He 
who shall come so far as that shall find the mercy 
of God bearing him up into the glory. 

Now, as we go away, shall we sing a loyal 
hymn, the hymn of a loyal people, the hymn of 
true hearts singing unto their Lord ? 

All hail the power of Jesus' name. 



IV. 

LOOKING TOWARD THE SEA. 



Scripture Lesson : Acts, xxvii. 

Text : Go up now, look toward the sea : I Kings, xviii : 48. 

THE prophet was waiting for rain. The cloud 
which was to bring it in abundance would 
come by the way of the sea. He sent his servant 
seven times that he might know if the cloud was 
coming. " Elijah went up to the top of Carmel ; 
and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put 
his face between his knees, and said to his servant, 
Go up now, look toward the sea." 

It is with a similar intention that men have 
commonly looked toward the sea. They have 
sought something from it. They have looked for 
benefits which must pass over it to reach them. 
They have taken its treasures. They have made 
it a highway for the ships which have carried their 
merchandise from land to land, and exchanged the 
products of separated climes. They have jour- 
neyed over it that they might visit lands of historic 
interest, or study the living institutions of the 
world. The shores of our own land were sought 

o 

70 



LOOKING TOWARD THE SEA. 71 

in ships which pressed their way across the 
sea, bearing the men who looked beyond the wide 
waters for a haven for their liberty and purity. 
This church, this college, this nation, came by the 
way of the sea. 

Our greatest enterprises make an alliance with 
the sea and the men who belong to it. Ships 
must carry our missionaries to the ends of the 
earth, that they may erect in every land the cross 
of the Redeemer and the throne of the King. Our 
Lord himself preached from a fisher's boat, and 
called from the sea the men who were to be his 
first disciples and apostles. Men have been using 
the sea for their own purposes, always seeking and 
getting. The sea, the seamen, and the ships are 
the common benefactors of civilization and relig- 
ion. Even now, as the summer days draw on, 
we are looking toward the sea for renewed health 
and enlarged resources of mind and heart. 

It is time that we possessed and exercised a 
more generous spirit : that we asked if we cannot 
give where we have received so much ; if we can- 
not respond to these good offices with our own 
thoughtful and liberal benefactions. With this 
thought and purpose in our minds, let us go up 
now and look toward the sea. 

Looking off from this height, what do we 
behold? The vast expanse of waters, uniting the 
lands which they seem to keep apart, and making 
the lands a safe and pleasant dwelling-place for 



72 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

men ; the seat of great nations ; the abode of an 
advancing civilization. But it concerns us much 
more to observe that there are three millions of 
men whose dwelling is upon the sea. They are 
separated from their families, and from the com- 
fort and security of their homes, from the enjoy- 
ments of friendly society, and from the ministra- 
tions of the church. 

On the other hand, they are thrown into the 
severest hardships. Their work is hard, their peril 
is constant. Whether upon ship or on shore, they 
are in danger. Their calling and their training 
make them an easy prey. The lifetime of the 
sailor is twenty -eight years, and his sea life eleven 
years. The monotonous story of shipwrecks is the 
saddest reading of the winter months. Along 
much of the seaboard the old prophecy scarcely 
fails of fulfilment, that the women of Colias shall 
roast their corn with oars. 

This is for us. The sailor is the indispensable 
man. Should he retire from service the world 
would almost stand still. Look at the manifold 
influence of Greece upon the world. The book 
which is the heart of the world's life, under whose 
sway humanity is to attain to its renown, was 
written by divine appointment in the language of 
Greece. But Greece lies within the seas, its wind- 
ing coast breaking into harbors for the ships of the 
great sea. Greece was fitly likened to a ship, and 
Corinth, " the city of the two seas, " was the prow 



LOOKING TOWARD THE SEA. 73 

and stern of the ship. In allegory, Corinth was a 
woman upon a rock between two other figures, 
each of which held a rudder. The symbol is well 
chosen. In the history of the world the ship and 
the sailor hold a conspicuous place. 

These sailors are men like ourselves. They are 
brave, bold, generous, impulsive, open-handed and 
open-hearted men. They are the children of Our 
Father. Our duty is their duty. Before them 
stretch the endless years. The gospel of to-day 
and the judgment of the great day are for them. 
For them Christ died and rose again. They have 
minds which can be instructed, and souls which 
can be saved, and lives which can be set in highest 
service. 

To the fishermen of Galilee the Saviour ex- 
tended his personal ministry. A part of his going 
about doing good was on the sea. He trod its 
waves that he might help the weary rowers when 
the wind was contrary. He woke from his sleep 
to still the tempest and save the affrighted men in 
whose ship he was crossing the sea. He rescued 
one sinking man. He filled the nets which the 
night's toiling had left empty. The first to hear 
the good news which he brought, and the first to 
tell it to the world, were sailors. The Lord him- 
self leads us to the sea, directs our gaze to the 
wandering ships, bids us give to them as freely as 
we receive from him, teaches us that we can make 
them the messengers of his grace around the world. 



74 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

What can we do for tlie seamen ? We can 
place them in good ships, properly built and 
honestly loaded. That man has a title to royal 
distinction who has drawn around the ship the 
safety line which bears his name. We can give to 
them the protection of the law, that they may be 
fairly paid for their hazardous life, and that their 
earnings may be safe from the hands which would 
steal them. We can have our coast thoroughly 
surveyed, and its perils brought to light, that ships 
may go securely on their way. We can maintain 
lighthouses and lightships wherever they can be 
a warning and a guide. We can sustain our life- 
saving service, and let it do its work through all 
the year, seeing that storm and shipwreck cannot 
be regulated by the calendar. 

We can give the sailors a home when they are 
on shore, and a friendly hand, and a genial compan- 
ionship, which shall make their stay pleasant and 
safe. We can remember that to most of our 
seamen this is a foreign land, where they should 
receive from us the same attention which we are 
to provide for our own men when they are abroad. 
The sailor on shore, especially in a strange land, 
should find waiting for him a friend, a home, a 
church, a savings-bank, and whatever will supply 
his varied wants. We have but to think how 
greatly we are his debtor to be moved to repay 
him out of the abundance of our comfort. 

We can put Bibles on every ship ; a Bible for a 



LOOKING TOW ABB THE SEA. 75 

man. It is the book which he needs, even as we 
need it. The godliness which it teaches is profit- 
able for his life, as it is for our own. God and his 
law, Christ and his redemption, the future and 
all which it contains, should be in his thoughts, 
and should be set there, kept there, enlarged 
there, by the Word which is a lamp and a light 
for men at sea and on shore. It is interesting 
to observe how much of the imagery of the Bible 
is drawn from the sea, and would naturally be 
most appreciated by seamen. Our days pass 
away as the swift ships. The virtuous woman is 
like the merchants' ships. The true hope in God 
is as an anchor of the soul. A man's life is 
influenced as great ships are turned about with a 
very small helm. "Deep calleth unto deep at 
the noise of thy waterspouts : all thy waves and 
thy billows are gone over me," cries the burdened 
and hopeful Psalmist. " When thou passest 
through the waters I will be with thee," is the 
Lord's promise. " When the enemy shall come in 
like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a 
standard against him." "The wicked are like 
the troubled sea, when it cannot rest." To the 
obedient his peace shall be as a river, and his 
righteousness as the waves of the sea. When St. 
John was a prisoner upon a rock in the midst of 
the sea, he saw the Son of Man in his glory, and 
his voice was as the sound of many waters ; and 
the new song which he heard before the throne, 



76 CAMBRIDGE SEBMONS. 

the song of the redeemed from the earth, was in a 
voice u as the voice of many waters." 

The hymn which so clearly expresses in melo- 
dious form the grace of the Saviour and the trust of 
the soul in him, among the dearest of all our 
Christian songs, carries our thoughts at once out 
upon the sea. It seems almost to have been writ- 
ten for sailors — 

Jesus, Lover of my soul, 

Let me to thy bosom fly, 
While the waters near me roll, 

While the tempest still is high: 
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 

Till the storm of life is past ; 
Safe into the haven guide : 

Oh, receive my soul at last 1 

But we are able to give to the sailor other 
books. There is scarcely a limit to our ability in 
this direction. There are few good books which 
are read in our homes which would not be suitable 
on board the ship. In some respects a man has 
the advantage of a book as a companion and 
instructor. In other important respects the advan- 
tage is with the book. The book has its wit and 
wisdom in a condensed form. It is patient. It 
will tarry the sailor's leisure, and speak whenever 
he is disposed to listen. It will repeat its words as 
often as it is asked. It will not crowd him in his 
house, nor be in his way on deck. It will eat 
none of the ship's bread and demand none of its 



LOOKING TOWARD THE SEA. 77 

favors. The good book will be the good friend, 
suited to all climes, adapted to all the conditions 
of life. Like the sea-gull it will be at home in the 
calm, and will beat up against the gale. 

This book we can furnish and ship in profusion 
and variety. Books of travel and history, of geog- 
raphy and biography, of science and art ; stories 
which are worth reading ; poetry which will be a 
delight ; books which teach virtue and religion — 
one and the same book which we use and prize, 
which we buy for our homes and place in our pub- 
lic libraries — these we can give to those who go 
down to the sea in ships, away from public libra- 
ries, and book-stores, and newspapers, with the 
leisure of a long voyage, with the intervals 
between the storms, with the weary days when a 
new face, and a fresh voice, and a novel thought 
will be welcomed and cherished. 

In the work of civilization, the man and the 
book go through the world together. We should 
keep them together when we can. There should 
be chaplains at all seaports. But Ave cannot pro- 
vide twenty-five thousand chaplains that each of 
our ships may be furnished. They would not be 
received if we conld provide the men. There is 
no difficulty in furnishing twenty-five thousand 
libraries, that each ship may have one. The 
American Seaman's Friend Society, through which 
our part of this work is to be done, has already sent 
out more than seventy -five hundred libraries, con- 



73 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

taining more than five hundred thousand volumes. 
It had placed at the last report nine hundred and 
thirty-five libraries in the ships of the navy and in 
naval hospitals, and one at each of our life-saving 
stations. The work is as simple as it is sensible and 
useful. I have been told that it was a woman's 
thought, and I can readily believe it. Twenty 
dollars sends a library to sea ; not on one voyage 
only, but on a series of voyages. It may be 
exchanged for another in some distant port, or 
on the high seas. It may return to be recruited, 
that it may again go abroad. For the price of a 
book you or I can go on this voyage of helpfulness, 
to be the sailor's companion and assistant, to cheer 
him in his loneliness, to shield him in his peril, 
to bind him to his home, to point him to the Fath- 
er's house, and attend him on the upward way. It is 
an opportunity to be heartily seized. What work 
in which we engage promises so large a return for 
so small an outlay ! So wide an influence with so 
little exertion ! We can stay at home, and send 
our line out through all the earth, and our words 
to the end of the world. It is a magnificent 
enterprise, simple as it is. All which commends 
it to us as we think upon it is enhanced when we 
see the eagerness with which these books are 
sought, the care which they receive, the signs of 
faithful reading which they bring back from their 
wandering. It would be hard for a generous man 
to look upon a returned library, to take the books 



LOOKING TOWARD THE SEA. 79 

in his hand, to catch the aroma which is breathed 
out from the case and the books, and not desire to 
go upon a voyage so easily made, and to have 
a sailor's library for a part of his own life. 

The results which have attended this unostenta- 
tious service confirm all which has been said. The 
testimony is abundant and continuous. Men have 
been cheered and helped. They have been pro- 
tected when among enemies. They have been 
taught the way of righteousness. Man}?- have 
become doers of the word of life, and confessing 
Christ as their Saviour have entered upon his ser- 
vice with heartiness and have been efficient 
laborers in his name. Sailors say that in coming 
around Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope, the 
first land they make is the North Star. On many 
a sea and from many a ship sailors have seen the 
Star in the East which has led them to the place 
where the young child lay who was afterward to 
call men from their boats into his service. 

There is a special significance in the Christian 
life of a sailor because he is a wanderer on the 
earth. He visits many lands where he can be the 
living witness to the power and principle of the 
truth which he teaches with his lips and illustrates 
in his life. Before Paganism and its vices he can 
show forth the better way of pure and undefiled 
religion. Himself a missionary, he can stay up the 
hands and strengthen the heart and enlarge the 
success of those who have gone into strange lands 



80 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

only that they might preach the unsearchable 
riches of Christ who loved them, and loved all 
men, and gave himself for the world. 

For the special enterprise which we are consid- 
ering to-day, we may draw incentive and example 
from other work which is done for seamen. Not 
for them alone, but for ourselves when we are 
sharing their perils. The government erects light- 
houses and guards them with generous care. We 
can hold the lamp of life along the shore, and out 
on the sea, and in foreign ports, that men may 
reach the haven which they should desire. We 
can meet the sailor wherever he goes with the 
light of the world. We can make him a light to 
lighten the Gentiles. By his help we can make 
the world bright with the glory of God, and the 
Lamb shall be the light thereof. Our life-saving 
service is well named, and, while it is not yet per- 
fected, is an honor to the land. Wonderful is the 
efficiency of its one hundred and six stations. Think 
of two thousand lives saved in a single year, and a 
million and a half dollars worth of property pre- 
served. What work is grander and more humane 
than that which is done by the hardy and resolute 
men to whom this mercy is intrusted ? It was not 
many months ago that men whose time was out 
and whose pay was stopped saved thirty passengers, 
with the sailors of the Pliny, which had presumed 
to be wrecked at the wrong season. A life-saving 
service which shall extend its watch and its labors 



LOOKING TOWABD THE SEA. 81 

to the souls of men, that they may not perish, but 
have everlasting life, is demanded by humanity and 
Christianity. It is organized. It needs more men 
and more money for its work. It appeals to every 
kind and noble impulse. The very luxuries on 
our table urge us to the payment of our debt to 
sailors. The books which we enjoy plead for lib- 
erty to go out and bless others. The storms of 
winter bear to our retreat the cry of the needy 
whose hold on life is frail. He whose friends we 
are bids us walk the sea after him, that we may do 
good. 

I am sure that you will let a sailor's son plead 
with you in the sailors' behalf. I pray 3*011 to 
carry them in your hearts, to pray for them, to 
share with them the blessings which gladden your 
life — the blessings which have come to you 
through their hands. The opportunity is as invit- 
ing as it is large. 

" We are as near to heaven by sea as by land," 
were the words of Sir Humphrey Gilbert as 
his bark entered the darkness of the night, to be 
seen no more. The way to heaven proves shorter 
than the way by land. Heaven is near to bless 
the wanderer with grace, to guide him with 
divine counsel that he may be received into 
glory. The promises of the Lord's kingdom 
include the sea. At last there shall be no more 
sea : no more will it part friend from friend. It 
will imperil no life. It will take no man into 



82 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

its dark depths. When the graves are opened, 
the great sepulchre will render up its dead, and 
roll away forever. Before that day the Lord 
will have his own. It is written, and it shall be 
fulfilled, that the abundance of the sea shall be 
converted unto him. Our faith and our work 
are to be as broad as the promise. When we 
pray and when we give, we should stand with one 
foot on the land and one foot on the sea, sure that 
when time shall be no more, the endless years 
shall still be ours ; ours and theirs who are in our 
mind and on our heart to-day. With a long vis- 
ion, with a controlling faith, with generous pur- 
poses, let us go up now and look toward the sea. 



V. 

THE GOOD MERCHANT. 



IN MEMORY OF MR. JAMES P. MELLEDGE. 

ScRiPTUKE Lesson : Romans, xii. 

Text : Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man 
that getteth understanding. 

For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of 
silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. 

She is more precious than rubies : and all the things thou 
canst desire are not to be compared unto her. 

Length of days is in her right hand ; and in her left hand 
riches and honor. 

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 
peace. 

She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and 
happy is every one that retaineth her. Proverbs iii: 13-18. 

THERE have been many among us who have 
found these sayings true, and have illus- 
trated their truth before men. Of these some re- 
main, honored and trusted, serving Christ and the 
Church, wearing meekly the homage which belongs 
to usefulness. Others have gone from us, entering 
into their rest, advancing in their reward, yet 

83 



84 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

leaving with us blessed memories which we delight 
to cherish, and a gracious influence for which we 
give thanks at every thought of them. The life 
of a good man is a present and permanent good. 
It is helpful to the strong and the true. It is 
profitable to the weak and the wavering. It gives 
hope to the old, who are soon to intrust their work 
to other hands. It gives wisdom to the young, 
calling them to noble lives and quickening every 
manly endeavor. This is especially true when 
the life has been made up within the common 
bounds, and out of ordinary material, so that it 
can stand as a pattern for other lives. This is of 
the greater service if the life has been seen day 
b}^ day, as deed has been joined to deed ; where 
purpose and principle and effort and result could 
all be observed and intelligently considered. There 
is one thing which is evident, that the good life 
may be lived in any part of the world, in any age, 
with any outward estate, with any position among 
men. It is evident, also, that it can be engaged in 
any kind of honest work. The good man may be 
a prophet or apostle ; he may be the minister of 
the Church, to teach the Gospel of the grace of 
God. He may be a lawyer, concerned with divine 
justice and righteousness as they are to be ap- 
plied to the affairs of men for their guidance. He 
may be a physician, carrying the Gospel of God's 
healing into the homes of men, that their days 
may be prolonged in the earth. He may be a 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 85 

teacher opening the world of God's truth and 
order before the expectant eyes which wait for the 
revelation. He may be a mechanic, framing the 
wood and stone which God has made into houses 
and ships, that households may live in comfort, 
and climes exchange their products, and nations be- 
come neighbors. Our thoughts add another to 
the brief list. The good man may be a merchant. 
He may have to do with merchandise, with buy- 
ing and selling, with finance and economy ; stand- 
ing between the earth and her children, in the 
name of the Lord, to bring out the treasures of 
the land and the sea, the forest and the mine, and 
lay them at the feet of those who need them. It 
is most appropriate to-day that in our study of a 
good life we keep a merchant in mind. Instructed 
by our recollection and affection we are certain to 
do this. We are glad and grateful that we can 
do it with an ample confidence. Yet no sooner do 
we seek thus to confine our thoughts than they 
reach away beyond the name we have chosen and 
the life which it describes. The good man may 
be a merchant, but he must be more. His business 
may be upon a vast scale, but his life must be 
more vast. He has relations and corresponding 
duties towards his father and mother, while they 
are here, and towards their home. If he has a 
family of his own, he has peculiar and sacred obli- 
gations towards those who bear his name and look 
to him for support and counsel. He has duties 






86 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

to the community with which he is connected, 
whose interests he must regard. Above all he must 
remember his Creator, and give to God reverent 
obedience and affection. He must make up a 
Christian career, true in doctrine, just in conduct, 
devoted in purpose, humane, charitable, beneficent. 

Whatever be the special occupation by which 
a man is known, he has these broad relationships 
in which he must be found faithful. A good 
life is not a point, nor is it a line. It is a circle 
whose circumference encloses many different 
tilings, compassing them in a regular and unbroken 
curve. Herein lies the glory of manhood, that it 
is large and generous ; that it is complete and right. 
Have I said more than we have seen in the lives 
of men ? More than one name could be written 
underneath the picture ; one name your tender 
thought has been speaking. 

Look now more closely and more fully at some 
of the things which properly find a place in the 
life of a good merchant. 

I. First, then, it is of great value to a man to 
be well born. One cannot secure this for himself. 
No man is forbidden to be great for the want of 
it ; no man is assured of a noble life because of 
it. Yet happy is he who possesses it. Manhood 
descends. If character be personal, the forces 
which make up character are in a good measure 
inherited. It is the solemn law working grandly 
when the inheritance is grand. It enlarges 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 87 

human life. It makes it possible for a man to 
improve upon himself and to give to his sons a 
better start than was given to him. Working 
normally, it secures an advance by generations. 
The father and mother may give to their child 
disposition, taste, tendency, with opinions, mo- 
tives, powers. The birthright is long in their 
keeping as the child's guardian, that he may have 
his own with usury, through their watchfulness, 
influence, training. This is according to the 
divine ordinance. The good parent, says an 
old English writer, "beginneth his care for his 
children at their birth, giving them to God to be, 
if not his chaplains, at least his servants. This 
care he continueth till the day of his death, in 
their infancy, youth, and man's estate." Mani- 
festly it is a great advantage to a boy to have 
such parentage : to be born of those who have a 
complete view of life and a thorough conception 
of duty ; to begin his career in a house where 
God is loved and served ; to be brought up from 
his infancy in the knowledge of his other and 
greater Father : of his commandment, his provi- 
dence, his mercy; and to have his spiritual nature 
trained for the years and the ages which are 
before it. It is a great help to a boy to have for 
his father an honest man : upright, frugal, indus- 
trious: whose days of strength are given to prof- 
itable work, and whose riper years are hallowed 
with an active charity ; to grow up in a house 



88 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

whose hospitality finds its most frequent guest in 
a godly man, an angel entertained not unawares : 
a disciple lodged for the Master's sake. 

Be his 
My special thanks, whose even-balanced soul, 
From first youth tested up to extreme old age, 
Business conld not make dull, nor passion wild; 
Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole. 

With such parents, in such a home, a boy may 
be spirited, fond of adventure, full of enterprise \ 
a leader in the heroic sports of youth. He may 
be quiet, content with home and school, marked 
in his work and play by gentleness and courtesy. 
Either boy may be truthful, reverent, manly, 
and give promise of a creditable life. I have in 
mind to-day the quiet, courteous boy ; whose 
ardor was tempered with gentleness; whose 
strength rejoiced in beauty of spirit and behavior. 
What will the man be out of this beginning ? 

II. In answering this I remark, secondly, that 
it belongs to the good merchant to have a wise 
choice of his calling. Not all good men are 
suited to one method of life. One spirit may be in 
them all, while they have diversities of gifts which 
should find diversities of operations. It would 
not have been strange if from the associations of his 
boyhood this young man had chosen to be a minis- 
ter, and doubtless he would have been wise as a 
winner of souls. With his kind heart and care- 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 89 

fill hands he would probably have been a skilful 
physician. In either profession he would have 
found a wide field for goodness and strength. 

It was most natural that he should choose his 
father's calling: and the result has justified the 
choice. What department of business should he 
select? Brought up by an established mercantile 
house, he turned from that special kind of business 
to another which offered to the young merchant 
an opening into a free and remunerative service. 
He chose that for which he was fitted : therefore 
he chose well. Yet making a wise selection of a 
career is but one part of the good merchant's 
choice. He must also determine what manner of 
man he will be in his work. Some things seem 
settled for him. According to his temperament 
and education, he may be stirring, enterprising, 
pushing into new countries, finding strange aven- 
ues for trade; or he may mingle great prudence 
with his zeal, regard new enterprises with caution, 
and let his diligence satisfy itself in paths where 
he is familiar with the way. This man was zeal- 
ous and careful : diligent and wise. Whatever 
his character in this respect, he has to choose in 
what way he will regard his business ; whether it 
shall be for narrow or broad results ; whether it shall 
be content with temporal or seek, also, eternal 
reward ; whether it shall be of the earth earthy, or 
be in its intent spiritual like himself; whether his 
business shall be master of him, or he shall be the 



90 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

master; whether he shall follow the maxims of 
the world, or work under the commandment of 
God. One may be a merchant on either plan. The 
good merchant will elect the better plan. He 
will dignify his business with the lofty temper 
which he takes into it. He will make it the means 
of his spiritual culture. He will order it after his 
own will, under the statutes beneath which he 
lives. Realizing how large a part of his time and 
strength he is giving to his business, he will make 
sure that he is not separating so much of his life 
from its chief end and worthy method. He will 
refuse to divide his manhood according to days 
or places. He will be himself because in himself 
he is at his best. A man divided is like a house 
divided. The best everywhere, will be his rule. 
The merchandise of wisdom " is better than the 
merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than 
fine gold ! " Therefore he will get wisdom and not 
sell it. He will work in " a land whose stones are 
iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig 
silver." In his daily life, in all its common 
concerns, he will keep his integrity, and preserve 
the graces of his character and manners, carrying 
" high erected thoughts seated in the heart of 
courtesy." I will conclude and adorn this 
account with words written more than two hun- 
dred years ago — " The good merchant is one who, by 
his trading, claspeth the islands to the continent, 
and one country to another ; an excellent gardener 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 91 

who makes England bear wine, and oil, and spices ; 
yea, herein goes beyond nature in causing that 
omnis fert omnia tellus. He wrongs not the 
bivver in number, weight, or measure. These 
are the landmarks of all trading, which must not 
be removed. God is the principal clerk of the 
market ; " all the weights of the bag are his 
work!" Sometimes "the seller's conscience is all 
the buyer's skill." Men have a touchstone whereby 
to try gold ; but gold is the touchstone whereby to 
try men." And this is fitting here : " The true 
gentleman " " is courteous and affable to his 
neighbors. As the sword of the best tempered 
metal is most flexible, so the truly generous are 
most pliant and courteous in their behavior to 
their inferiors." Is all this true of the merchant 
who is most in our minds ? Is it not true ? What 
honor it is thus to have borne himself honorably, 
trusty in his calling, faithful to himself, always 
remembering that before he was a merchant he 
was a man : and that when he should cease to be 
a merchant, he would still be a man ! To hold 
this in his thought was to make his work pros- 
perous, and his gains lasting. This enlarges 
courage, lengthens patience, and uplifts the life. It 
increases and improves the man. He needs to 
let his best assert itself. He is more than his pow- 
ers, and more than his life. He is spirit. Eternal 
3^ears are on him. This true and abiding nature, 
the real man, wins or loses life. A man's treasure 



92 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

is his character. If that is rich, he is rich. He 
is so much that he can be more ; so high that he 
can be higher. 

He can be good, and have his goodness solid and 
round. I wish to pay this grateful tribute to the 
men who make us all their debtors, as they keep 
society alive, uphold government, found schools, 
build churches, send missionaries through the 
lands. I have revered them as boy and man, and 
lived upon their bounty. I know how great their 
own rules would make them, if they would take 
their rules into the limitless years and along the 
uppermost walks of life. 

Still doth the soul, from its lone fastness high, 
Upon our life a ruling effluence send ; 

And when it fails, fight as we will, we die, 
And while it lasts, we cannot wholly end. 

III. This leads me to remark, thirdly, that the 
good merchant will be good towards God. He may 
be a merchant without this ; honest and honorable, 
strong and wealthy. But surely these are not the 
highest things to be said of a man. The mer- 
chant can surpass all this. Seeing that he is 
wrong with God, he will become right ; confessing 
the wrong, seeking forgiveness, praying for strength 
to do those things which are pleasing in his sight. 
The qualities which make the merchant success- 
ful in the esteem of men, if carried to their proper 
end, will make him great in goodness. The wise 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 93 

merchant looks before him and as far he can. He 
does not bound his vision by seventy days ; nor 
does he stop at seventy years if he can see beyond 
— and he can see beyond. Indeed, the years after 
the threescore and ten are more certain than 
those upon this side. He is a man of faith. He 
confides in men, enters upon projects in which ab- 
solute certainty is impossible ; he sends his ships 
beyond his sight ; invests money for a future 
return ; anticipates results and works with his 
expectations. He should not be kept from a godly 
life because he does not know evervthino- about it, 
and has never seen the Lord face to face Nor 
should he refuse to heed the teachings of God be- 
cause in part they concern unseen things and 
reach into the world beyond the earth. He should 
pass on from what he knows to what he ought to 
know, and let his reason have free course. He is 
an honorable man; dealing fairly by all, paying 
that which he ought to pa}', meeting men in a 
liberal and manly spirit. The same sense of 
honor will make him just towards God, desirous 
to meet his duties to him, carrying himself in a 
manful and becoming manner towards his Cre- 
ator and his Father. It is most becoming that he 
should be a man of God in a large and generous 
way. The wise merchant seeks the best, or that 
which is best for his purposes, and shrewdly 
conducts his business with reference to the largest 
gains. He should not stop when the gain becomes 



91 CAMB1UDGE SERMONS, 

very large and the good things perfect. Religion 
in itself, and its return, "is more precious than 
rubies," said a man who knew something both of 
rubies and religion ; " and all the things thou 
canst desire are not to be compared unto her." 
Our Lord himself sought to extend the approved 
methods of business, and he taught men how 
far they reach. u The kingdom of heaven is 
like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls ; 
who, when he had found one pearl of great price, 
went and sold all that he had, and bought it." 
The wise merchant is an economist. He does not 
work for pleasure, but for gain. From loss he 
turns away. Hence the question of the Gospel 
appeals to him and impresses him ; a question 
profound enough for him, and simple enough for 
his office boy, " What shall it profit a man if he 
shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? or 
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? " 
He seeks moreover for permanence. He prides 
himself on the stability of his business — "an old 
established house," he likes to say. So that 
he can appreciate the force of Christ's appeal ; 
" Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which 
built his house upon a rock." The shreAvd mer- 
chant makes himself known ; chooses a place 
among men, puts up his sign, advertises his goods, 
lets himself be recognized by buyers and sellers, 
by producers and consumers, as one engaged in his 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 95 

line of trade. Hence he will approve the command 
of Christ, that the Christian shall let his light so 
shine before men that the light may produce the 
best effect. He knows the advantage of associa- 
tion for counsel and helpfulness; he has his 
Exchange and his Board of Trade, to which he 
gives, from which he seeks. He sees therefore the 
wisdom of Christ in bringing Christians together 
in the fellowship of the Church for the furtherance 
of the Christian design and for the advantage 
of all. 

With what force, then, does Christ address him- 
self to the wise merchant, when he asks him to 
extend his practical maxims and usages, and let 
his wisdom cany him as far as it can. This mer- 
chant who is with us to-day looked very far 
before him ; he saw the invisible ; he cherished a 
sense of honor which brought him to God ; he 
strove to do his duty before him, that God might 
be glorified ; walking with God, he sought to 
secure the highest and most permanent gains, and 
what he received was still the Lord's. More than 
this, he knew his weakness, his failures, his faults. 
In a simple truthfulness he confessed his sins and 
sought the mercy of his God. To the Lord who had 
redeemed him, he gave his life. Two and thirty 
years old, he stood before men in the Church and 
made confession of his Lord and Saviour, and 
joined himself to others of like character and pur- 
pose. He sought what the Church had to give. 



96 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

He gave what the Church sought and he had 
to give. His piety was real ; more, it was 
effective. It owed much of its effectiveness to the 
fact that it was known. He opened his mouth and 
quietly said, " I am a Christian." Therefore the 
good which he did and the good which he was 
became a tribute to his Lord. Men thought 
better of Christ and the Church because he had 
told them that lie was following Christ* and they 
saw that he was in the Church and of it. Tins 
was the business man carrying his business habits 
further on. This was the wise merchant become 
the good merchant. 

IV. I add, therefore, fourthly, that the 
good merchant will make for himself a Chris- 
tian life. It will be long, stretching down 
the centuries, and it will begin here. It will be a 
life of obedience. The eternal rules of righteous- 
ness will be its law. The Lord will be its master. 
He will realize that he has no more power over 
right and wrong than he has over the life which 
rustles in his grain, or the winds which drive his 
ships across the sea. He will no more tamper 
with the laws of God than with the coin of the 
realm. It is for him to obey. He will do this 
cheerfully, because he knows that it is right, and 
that the rule of Christ is the rule of the best. 
Thus honor and honesty are secure. He will be 
conservative towards the eternal right. Methods 
of business may change, steam and lightning may 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 97 

become factors in it, its competitions may grow 
more fierce, its demands more extortionate. But 
in his mind truth will remain truth ; right, right ; 
honor, honor. Novelt}Miiay play upon the surface 
of his business ; underneath will be the old vigor- 
ous rules of righteousness. 

Thus he will have a life of purity. His con- 
science will sit at his desk and stand by his 
scales. His mother might be his active partner 
and his father audit his acounts. He will be 
orderly and accurate : intelligent and sound. 
This will give him calmness. He may be full of 
enterprise, but he will behave as a man who has 
himself well in hand, and is prepared against sur- 
prises, He will enjoy the quiet 

Of toil unsevered from tranquility ; 
Of labor, that in lasting fruit outgroTrs 
Far noisier schemes, accomplish'd in repose, 
Too great for haste, too high for rivalry. 

Such a life must be generous. It will be put to 
the proof. Its patience will be tried, its passion 
tested. Forbearance and charity will often be 
needed. Broad opportunities of usefulness will 
open on every hand. Many claimants will ask a 
share of his gains. He will need all his discre- 
tion. But he will know that business is not an 
end unto itself, and that the value of money is in 
that which can be done with it. He will give by 
principle and with a free hand. The main course 



98 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



of his life will be for the common good. But 
many subordinate interests will also be regarded. 
He will sow his rich fields for the large harvest; 
and from his overflowing hand some seed will fall 
at the wayside for the birds. 

Under such training, wherein he trains himself, 
he will increase in goodness. His life will rise as it 
lengthens. He will grow into the image of his 
Redeemer, and his Lord, and share his life. Wis- 
dom will endow him. For " length of days is in 
her right hand ; and in her left hand riches and 
honor." He will enjoy life. For " her ways are 
ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." 
He will increase in strength. For " she is a tree 
of life to all that lay hold upon her." He will be 
received on high when he goes hence. " For 
whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I 
also confess before my Father which is in heaven." 
Is the picture which my unskilful hand has 
drawn, and embellished with touches from the 
king's fingers, — is it like the man ? 

Obedient, the law of the Lord was his law, 
and the statutes of God were his song. He 
learned obedience in his boyhood; and with it he 
made his manhood strong. His was the soul of 
honor. His nature was large and his principles 
were free, but you knew where you would find 
him. He loved truth the better because it was 
old, and ancestral piety was dear to him. What 
we call conservatism, it is better in him to call 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 99 

truthfulness : loyalty to the right — the unaltera- 
ble right. He was one man. He had his house, his 
business, his society ; but he was the same man in 
all : the Christian gentleman. He planned a full 
life, and went on to construct it. The centre 
was Christ : the circle held his children, his 
neighbors, his associates and the Church. He 
said not over much; but what he said was with 
power from the man behind it. He spoke often 
enough to make men sure that he was a Christian, 
then he went forward with Christian deeds. 
Nature had been generous, but the man had been 
just. There was more than nature in his calm- 
ness and courtesy. Let us do credit to his con- 
science and his will. The winds passed over him 
as over other men, and sometimes the sea was 
rough. Yet he went steadily on and safely. 
There was a man in the ship. One of our New 
England writers has remarked, " When I see a man 
with serene countenance, it looks like a great 
leisure that he enjoys ; but in reality he sails on 
no summer's sea. This steady sailing comes of a 
heavy hand on the tiller." There was delibera- 
tion in his life. He knew what he would do and 
how he meant to do it. A calm assurance of sub- 
stantial things made him firm and robust. The 
results are in keeping with the design. Given such 
purposes and principles, and the life is the natu- 
ral consequence. He illustrates what another 
has written : " Sow an act, and you reap a habit. 



100 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a 
character, and you reap a destiny." 

But the divine part of this life is its distinctive 
feature. Once more let us assert it. This man was 
born of God. The author of his faith and charity 
is divine. He knew his Father. He loved him. 
He delighted to please him. His Father delighted 
in him and advanced him in wisdom and honor. 
" Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the 
man that getteth understanding ; " " That friend 
of mine who lives in God." 

He trusted in the grace of God. He bowed at the 
manger with his gold and frankincense. He knelt 
at the cross with his penitence and faith. Pie 
stood at the open sepulchre with his love and his 
life. He received the Holy Ghost, the Com- 
forter. He walked with Christ and went pre- 
pared unto the place prepared. Therefore while 
we are sad, the voice from out the skies is saying, 
' Blessed " — " Blessed are the dead which die in 
the Lord." For they are not dead ; " they rest." 
They have not parted from their business ; " their 
works do follow them." We speak our loving 
praise. We whisper our lament. We strain our 
ej r es to look up the glittering path and through 
the radiant door into the brightness and blessed- 
ness which are forever. There are glory and honor 
and immortality. 

There the} r stand, true men who have gone up 
from the earth, and they are pillars in the temple 



THE GOOD MERCHANT. 101 

of God. They behold their Lord and are like 
him, for they see him as he is. 

Saints in glory, we together, 
Know the song that ceases never ; 
Song of songs, Thou art, O Saviour, 
All that endless day. 

O the unsearchable Redeemer ! 
Shoreless Ocean, sounded never ! 
Yesterday, to-day, forever, 
Jesus Christ, the same ! 



VI. 
WHY STAND YE GAZING? 



Scripture Lesson : Revelation i. 

Text: Why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? Acts i : 2. 

THE answer was obvious. These men had 
come from Jerusalem to the mount called 
Olivet, with one who had led them all the way, 
and who, while he was talking with them, stretched 
his hands over them in blessing, and while he 
blessed them, suddenly rose from the ground and 
ascended until a cloud received him out of their 
sight. They gazed after him as long as they could 
see him ; and when he had vanished, naturally 
their e}<es remained fixed upon the cloud into 
which he had entered. " Why stand ye gazing 
up into heaven ? " One would think that the 
angel who asked the question might have allowed 
them a few minutes of rapturous longing as they 
looked after him who was more than all the world 
to them. Yet it seems, when we read the New 
Testament, as if it were not meant that the disci- 
ples should enjoy these rare visions. Three of 
these men had gone up a mountain at the north, 

102 



WHY STAND YE GAZING? 103 

led by the same One, and a glory exceeding bright 
had shone around about him, and there had come 
two men in the glory to talk with him. The dis- 
ciples at last were brought to the very gate of 
heaven. It was worth while to be a disciple if 
this could be the reward. While they looked and 
enjoyed, and desired that they might build three 
tents and remain there, suddenly a cloud shut out 
the whole vision from their gaze ; they heard a 
voice speaking out of the cloud; they fell upon 
their faces afraid, and presently they were led 
down out of the brightness into the darkness and 
misery of the world. Does it mean that God will 
not let us see the glory before the time ? Does it 
mean that heaven is fearful lest we should have 
too much of its delight while we possess the earth 
which is now our dwelling-place ? 

Angels hold men to their place and work. "When 
the women come to anoint the Lord with spices 
and embalm him with the last act of their devotion 
for his long slumber, looking forward out of the 
sorrow of the night to the few moments which 
they might have with him in the sacred solitude 
of the garden, before they began the holy offices 
which they were to perform, angels interrupted the 
course of their loving thoughts — " Why seek ye 
the living among the dead ? Go quickly, and tell 
his disciples that he is risen from the dead." 
Truly, there were surrounding the friends of our 
Lord the guardian angels of God's presence, 



104 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

coming to tliem from time to time to help them, 
certainly coming to them when there was much 
danger that they would be unduly exalted and 
forget that they belonged in this world, that their 
life was here, that they were to look down into 
the wants of the world, and to do the work which 
God had given them. Perhaps we find in this 
coming, more than anywhere else, the meaning of 
that phrase which is so familiar to our thoughts 
and so precious in our hopes, " ministering spirits/' 

When these men come down from the Mount, 
they are not the men who went up. They are not 
so rich, it may be said, for they have lost their 
great teacher, their leader, their master. They 
are richer, it were better to say, because he who was 
their Lord has gone up on high, and has taken to 
himself his greater power. Life never can be the 
same to them again, because one who is their life 
has gone to his own place, a place full of blessed- 
ness and of life. To have one's best friend in 
heaven sanctifies the earth. To have one's Lord 
at the throne makes it easier to obey here. To 
have the Intercessor there makes it easier to pray 
here. To have one there who is able to give the 
Comforter to men makes it easier to bear the 
trouble of this life, and to strengthen ourselves for 
the service which is required at our hands. 

These disciples needed to be instructed in the 
meaning of the ascension of the Lord. "Why 
stand ye gazing " recalled them to the true sig- 



WHY STAND YE GAZING? 105 

nificance of this act which consummates our Lord's 
earthly life. It was the gaze of wonder ; they 
were surprised that he had gone up. Let them 
remember that he had just said, " I am to ascend." 
" I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and 
to my God and your God." It was the look of 
bereavement ; yet it need not have been. Rather 
it should have been one of gladness to find that 
Christ had gone out of his humiliation into his 
glory. They should have recalled his word of 
promise, that he would be with his disciples, even 
unto the end of the world ; and that other word, 
that he would give the Holy Spirit to abide with 
men even while they were in this world. It was 
a look of longing ; they wanted him back again. 
There was that strange confusion of faith and 
desire which is so common; which makes us long 
with a longing that cannot be expressed for the 
presence, for the voice, of those who have gone 
out of our sight ; yet makes us give thanks every 
morning and night for the rest and the bliss which 
have come to them. The desire of these disciples 
changes into confidence when they recall the 
promise of the Lord as it is repeated by the angel : 
" This same Jesus which is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye 
have seen him go into heaven." 

This would almost seem a reason why the men 
should stand gazing up into heaven, watching for 
his return. What is the reason, then, of this inter- 



106 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



ruption ? Why are they not allowed to look up 
into the place out of which their Lord shall pres- 
ently come ? Because the Lord is not to come 
presently. One day is as a thousand years with 
him, and a thousand years are as one day. They 
are not able to stand waiting and looking until 
he shall come. Physical necessities, the very 
weariness of their bodies, the very hunger which 
would oppress them, must soon draw their gaze 
down from the clouds and send them back into 
the world. They are not able to stay upon the 
mountain ; let them come down, not of necessity, 
but of their own will. 

Again, they are not to stand gazing up into 
heaven, because the work which they are to do 
lies not in heaven, but below them, in the world. 
These facts which have entered into their experi- 
ence have been given that they might become the 
possession of the world. It is interesting to see 
how often the smallest causes which work in our 
life move hand in hand with the greatest causes 
and the highest obligations which enter into our 
career. Common hunger and vulgar weariness 
would send men from the mountain into the world, 
and the command of Christ, with the grandest 
commission ever given to men, would have the 
same result. It recalls to mind, although it is not 
strictly analogous, that it was out of the necessi- 
ties of men that Christ wrought his great works of 
mercy. He fed the multitudes by divine power 






WHY STAND YE GAZING? 107 

because they were hungry ; and the need of men 
as really worked for their relief as the power of 
God. He raised men from the dead because they 
were dead ; and the death of men became one of 
the forces as really as the power which called them 
from their long sleep. So here, the common duties 
and wants of men, which would carry them back 
into the world in which they belonged, would 
work together with that command of Christ which 
was their commission and the warrant of their 
discipleship. 

The sight of their ascending Lord would 
strengthen his disciples for their work, his work. 
It has been often seen that, when God has called 
men to great service, he has given them a vision 
of himself and let them hear his voice. He spoke 
to Moses out of the bush, and to Paul at the gate of 
Damascus. He has given men a sight of his glory, 
that they might glorify the world with the special 
revelation which had been made to them. 

Lot us mark, then, the order of service ; for it is 
of importance that we preserve it. We look upon 
the disciples as exceptional men, with an excep- 
tional work. We scarcely dare to think of their 
work or experience as like our own. They had 
marvellous revelations, and a remarkable furnish- 
ing. But they received power in connection with 
certain grand facts which were to be the strength 
of their lives. In this how far below them do we 
stand? For we have the same facts and the same 



108 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



Holy Spirit. It is to be noted that much of the 
strength with which Christ furnishes men is the 
power of external facts, with which they have 
nothing to do as causing them, or deserving them, 
or expecting them ; but certain great verities 
which are wrought out by God, and which they 
are to take, and by means of them make their will, 
their conscience, and their life strong and efficient. 
Thus, if you take this fact of our Lord's ascension, 
it becomes a power in these men's lives, because 
they think of the glory of him who has gone ; and 
it gives a wonderful authority to his words ; it gives 
a new force to the love which they have for him. 
Everything which he did is magnified before them 
by this glory, which sheds its brightness upon his 
whole life. For we join with this all our Lord's 
life. His ascension is simply one in a series of 
facts. It does not seem the most important ; yet 
it is important as belonging to a system of events, 
beginning with the incarnation, running through 
the display of his divine power in miracle, and 
quite as much in his instruction and promise, in- 
cluding the height and depth of divine grace when 
he gave himself in sacrifice and entered the sepul- 
chre, to come forth in power when he burst the 
bands of death and the grave, and stood alive 
among men ; taking us at last to the Mount of 
Olives, when he rises into the clouds of heaven. 

These are not things which Ave have done, or 
which God accomplishes within our heart ; they 



WHY STAND YE GAZING? 109 

are things which God works outside of us — out of 
doors, if I may say so — things which we are to look 
upon and to take as the material out of which we 
are to build up our thought and life. It is to be 
to us a verity that Christ rose from the dead, and 
that verity is to control our life ; it is to become a 
part of our mind, and of our moral faculties ; it is 
to enter into our reason ; it is to touch our hands, 
and our feet, and our lips ; and we are to be differ- 
ent in the commonest things which we do, from the 
fact that Christ died for us and rose from the 
dead. 

In this way God instructs men. For the work 
of the disciples, it may not seem to be essential that 
they should see Christ mount into the clouds of 
heaven. But it was essential that they should see 
him, and that all the fabric of their thought and 
life should be affected by that fact. They might, 
indeed, repeat the story of Christ's life ; the}^ might 
tell of his miracles ; they might renew his teachings 
among men ; they might be honest and truthful, 
and fill up the measure of a good man's career in 
the world ; but the life which they were to live, 
the work which they were to do, they could not 
live and they could not do, except as these facts 
entered into their thoughts, and were absorbed into 
their feeling, that Christ had ascended into his 
glory ; that Christ had risen from the dead ; that 
Christ had died for them ; that Christ had become 
incarnate for them. It is impossible that these 



110 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

things should become a part of the staple of any 
man's life, and the whole life not be affected, and 
elevated, and the man strengthened to live by the 
power of these divine truths. 

This was the method of our Lord's instruction 
to men. Certainly so much as this was true, that 
he was not satisfied to teach them merely with the 
word of his lips or by an inspiration in their 
minds. He taught them, as he teaches you and 
me, by events. Hence he let them behold his 
incarnation; he let them see divine power raising 
the dead ; he let them see him coming forth out 
of the sepulchre alive ; he let them, with their 
own eyes, see him ascend into the clouds of 
heaven ; that, taking these things, they might out 
of them learn who he was and why he was here, 
and what it was to be his disciples, and what the 
gift was which he gave to them and which through 
them he was to give to the world. 

We stand related to these facts precisely as the 
disciples stood. We stand in the same place. 
We stand in that interval of God's providence 
which has not been closed since the day of Christ's 
ascension ; that period which was often described 
by our Lord, and in many different ways, as the 
time between his vanishing from the world and his 
returning to the world ; an interval wherein we 
are to take these things of Christ and to use them 
for the world's good. The question which the 
angels asked of the disciples on the mount of the 



WHY STAND YE GAZING t 111 

Ascension, and which I have brought to your 
notice this morning, reminds us that it is not 
enough for any man to gaze at these facts ; it is 
not enough for us to believe them, to think about 
them, to enjoy them. It is not enough in our 
common work for a man to gaze at his store, to 
gaze at the opportunities which are before him, at 
the books which he might read, and the world 
which he might study, and the duties which he 
might perform. All this comes to nothing, and 
we weary of the dreamers, the visionary men who 
have a great prospect of something to which they 
never attain, and who, stirred by vain hopes, are 
unwilling to put their hands to the common things 
which lie at their feet. We say to a man — and 
how often and how truly we say it — you will 
never do the distant thing until you do the near; 
you never will attain unto the upper glory unless 
you are willing to stand here upon this common 
rough,and rugged earth, and do the first duty, and 
on that first duty mount to something higher. 
Gazing at duty and dreaming and singing and 
hoping and believing, all come to nothing, unless 
one puts his hand to the work and takes up, in 
substantial earnest, that which God has given him 
to do. There come times in life when success 
depends not only upon the recognition of this 
principle, but upon the speedy apprehension of it. 
There are men who work out their success — and 
perhaps all men work out their success in this way 



112 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

who have it at all — by a certain ability, which is 
almost genius, to recognize the right thing to do ; 
the facts which they are to take into their life ; and 
then quickly to take them up. I almost think you 
could describe the difference between a successful 
man and an unsuccessful man at that single point. 
The successful man is a man who does not gaze, 
but who does. Still, that does not quite closely 
enough define him. I should say that the success- 
ful man is a man who not only does, but does 
quickly. Pie makes up his mind readily ; and 
having once made it up, he cleaves to his purpose, 
not gazing back, wishing he had made another 
choice, but keeping to that which he has made 
with a certain dogged perseverance which fastens 
the whole force of his hands and of his heart upon 
his work, and leaves him no leisure for idle dream- 
ing or useless regrets. 

One of the shrewdest business men I ever knew 
told me that when a transaction had passed out of 
his hands, though it might appear that he had lost 
by the method in which he had made it, he never 
mourned over it, or wished that he had waited 
another day ; he simply accepted it as a fact behind 
him which it was of no profit for him to gaze upon, 
and went on to make up in to-day and to-morrow 
for the losses of yesterday. It is a wise principle, 
not to gaze backwards and wish we had done 
something else, not to gaze forward and wish we 
had something else, but to put ourselves in this 



WHY STAND YE GAZING ? 113 

interval where we stand to the doing of that which 
is our present duty. 

The present duty of men is to do the will of God ; 
and the will of God comes to us, not in a voice out 
of heaven merely ; not in a voice from our own 
hearts merely ; but the will of God comes to us in 
resounding syllables which every man can read. 
You can make out the letters one by one until } t ou 
have the word ; and these are the letters of the 
will of God which men are to hear and which men 
are to do to-day : " Incarnation," " Life," " Death," 
" Kesurrection," " Ascension ; " and these letters 
spell out the divine thought and the everlasting 
purpose of every truly successful man. But it will 
not serve us to gaze at these things ; to wonder 
at the glories of the manger and where it was ; to 
cross the seas that we may place our devotion in 
the sepulchre which we cannot find. But we are 
to take the facts and to do our business in the 
power of them ; to carry the resurrection of Christ 
into our daily work ; to take the ascension of 
Christ down into our studying and housekeeping, 
and all which engages our life, until we make up our 
thoughts and our purposes with these stupendous 
and divine factors winch are the everlasting veri- 
ties. 

No man has made himself strong for his work 
who has not looked up into the heavens ; and no 
man has looked up into the heavens to much pur- 
pose who has not come down from his gazing to 



114 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

his work in this world. We are permitted to see 
the risen Christ and to believe in him ; and then, 
believing him, to follow him. 

If you read the Lord's parables, you will find 
that again and again he refers to this interval in 
which we are living. Look, for instance, at his 
parable of the talents, or the parable of the pounds. 
A certain man takes his money and calls his ser- 
vants, and talks with them concerning it ; he puts 
the money into their hands, and goes into a far 
country to return. They know he is to return ; 
they understand that his money is to be used. 
Perhaps they watch his receding form, and stare 
after him when lie is lost to sight. They wonder 
where he has gone, and when he will come back, 
and they go home to talk about his goodness and 
kindness, and they turn the money over and over. 
Presently they begin to sing songs to this absent 
friend ; to praise him, the most generous of all men. 
One man, finally, taking his pound which is so 
precious, wraps it in a napkin that no harm may 
come to it, and that it may be ready when the 
Lord shall return. Another, fearful of such secu- 
rity, digs a hole in the ground and buries his 
money, that it may be safe when the Lord comes 
back. Is that the way to watch for the coming of 
the Lord ? Is that the meaning of this trust of 
talents and of pounds ? 

But what are the talents and the pounds? The 
opportunities of life, the privileges of life; our 



WHY STAND YE GAZING? 115 

time and our ability. Yes, but there are other 
treasures. The real talents and the real pounds 
are these : The incarnation of God ; the crucifixion 
of Christ ; the resurrection of Christ ; the ascension 
of Christ ; the coming of the Holy Ghost to take of 
the things of Christ and show them unto us. 
These are talents and pounds which we are to use 
until the Lord comes back to reckon with us. 
Have we nothing to show him in that day but a 
little more character which we have gained, a little 
more influence we have acquired ? He may well 
ask, " What have you done with my resurrection? 
Is that truth larger by that which you have done 
with it? Show me where my resurrection has 
gone down into your study and pervaded it. Show 
me where my ascension has entered into your 
thoughts and borne them up to higher and holier 
things." 

So it was when the lord planted a vineyard and 
let it out to husbandmen, and went his way into a 
far country to receive for himself a kingdom and 
to return. It was a fine vineyard. He had built 
a tower in it, and a wine-press ; he had prepared 
everything for the vintage. Then he went his 
wa}r. There were the husbandmen with his inter- 
ests in their charge. Had they nothing to do but 
to walk to and fro and see what a beautiful vine- 
yard it was ; to comment upon the architecture of 
the tower and the nature of its foundation ; to 
form elaborate calculations how long it would last, 



116 CAMBRIDGE SEBMONS. 

and how many men would probably be killed if it 
should fall ? To speculate upon the prospect of 
fruitage if the men did nothing but trust to the 
sun and rain ? Is that the way in which the hus- 
bandmen are to use the vineyard ? They do so, I 
know. Such a method has high practical commen- 
dation. There are many men who seem to be 
doing nothing in God's vineyard except to admire 
it and to theorize upon it. Surely, the wise hus- 
bandmen are those who use the grounds, enlarge 
the quantity of the grapes, and bring forth the 
wine in its season. This is the preparation for the 
owner; not the gazing, but the doing. What is 
the vineyard to-day ? What is it we are to do ? 
We are to be more prudent and industrious ; we 
are to study harder ; we are to elevate our thought, 
and to be more rational and conscientious — r cer- 
tainly we are to do these things. But will men 
bring forth the abounding fruits of the vineyard 
by that process? Nay; the powers by which we 
are to do the work in the vineyard until the Lord 
comes, are such truths as I have named: Christ's 
life among men ; Christ's redemption of men ; his 
resurrection and his ascension. If we work these 
into our thoughts, and into our motives, and into 
our lives, by and by the heavy clusters shall hang 
upon the vine, and the Lord of the vineyard 
returning, shall greet us with his " good and faith- 
ful." 

I want to present this to you to-day, and to my 



WHY STAND YE GAZING ? 117 

own heart, as a lesson of encouragement. Life is 
too hard for anj^ man to make it harder than is 
necessary ; and the duties which are upon us are 
too exacting for any man to try to do them with 
insufficient strength and imperfect appliances. 
We are not asked to make up a Christian life in 
our own strength, or in the strength of the Church. 
God is better than that. He gives us the very 
presence of himself in the world, that we may be 
Christians ; he gives us the very redemption of 
his Son ; he grants us the resurrection of his Son 
and his ascension — the divinest powers which ever 
wrought in the universe, so far as we have any 
knowledge — to the end that we may be God's 
children, and may do the work of God. I pray 
you to see, that as long as we stand gazing at 
these things they do us very little good. There 
are, I suppose, men who make a merit of believing 
that Christ rose from the dead : they might as 
well make a merit of believing in the transit of 
Venus. It is of small consequence whether you 
believe that Christ rose from the dead or not, 
unless you take that fact down into your heart; 
take it into your will and make your will stronger 
by it ; take it into your life and live by it from 
day to day. It is only as the resurrection becomes 
a power within our own power that it works out 
within us the peaceable fruits of God's purposes in 
man's righteousness. 

This is what the world needs of us, brethren. 



118 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

It is what we need, first of all, to receive these 
truths into our own thought and life, penitently, 
humbly, obediently ; to receive the risen and 
ascended Christ as our Lord and our Saviour; 
to take strong and personal hold upon" the divine 
and everlasting verities of his life, and then in 
the power of them, to go forth and do our work. 
I say this is what the world wants at our hands. 
So far as I can see, it is almost the only thing 
the world needs very much. I fail to see any- 
thing that the world wants to-day, which is any 
great necessity compared with its need of these 
truths which God gave to men that they might 
be God's men. You can give the world the bene- 
fit of your stud} T ; you can add the result of your 
invention and discovery; you can give your 
industry and the service of your daily life ; and 
undoubtedly all that would do good. But there 
are many men doing the same thing, and there 
always will be. The world is not very poor 
from lack of learning to-day ; nor from lack of 
mechanics, and merchants, and professional men of 
all kinds. It is not a very great gift to the world 
when one gives to it another commonplace and 
earthly life. The great thing the world wants, 
again, is not a change in our mechanism ; new 
appliances, new organizations in the Church and 
in society ; new methods which shall be filled with 
more energy. I grant that all these things may 
do good — I would not underrate them ; but they 



WHY STAND YE GAZING f 119 

never can do the grand work. The world can roll 
on quite well without them. The great thing the 
world wants to-day is the resurrection of Christ as 
a power in our streets, in our homes, and in all 
our work. It needs the glory of the ascension 
of Christ, until men trade with a bright cloud 
over their heads. We are to bear the troubles of 
life and indulge in its hopes, and live and die, car- 
ried up and carried forward on the wings of these 
grand realities, saying, "I have a Saviour, I have 
a Lord, who bears me on his heart before the 
throne of God; who is my keeper, my shepherd, 
and who presently, in an hour when I may not 
think of it, shall come to ask what I have done 
with the talent of the Resurrection, with the 
pound of the Ascension ; what I have done in the 
vineyard which he planted with a cross." 

Brethren, if I speak of what the world wants, 
may I not speak also of what heaven wants ? 
Heaven seems to need such men as Christ would 
make. It is a mistake to suppose that heaven 
needs to be peopled. We cannot count the mul- 
titudes of it. Heaven needs but one thing: it 
needs those who are prepared for it. Heaven 
must be inhabited by men within whom there is 
incarnate the ascension of Christ ; who have made 
up their lives around the truth that Christ died 
for them and rose and ascended ; a truth which in 
the hands of the Holy Spirit takes away sin and 
breaks the power of the world, and renews and 



120 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

sanctifies and glorifies the heart. We overesti- 
mate ourselves if we think heaven will be impov- 
erished without us. Still heaven wants us, and at 
our best; and no man is at his best until he has 
made up his character with the divine truths. 

These things come to us in this world where we 
have need of them. It doubtless is true that we need 
them here as much as anywhere. It is in this world 
that these things have been wrought out, and that 
means that it is in this world they are to be used. 
Christ did not rise and ascend in heaven ; he rose 
and ascended here. They make an earthly fact , an 
every-day truth. They furnish one of the com- 
monplaces of God's government for this common- 
place world. Let us take the facts here ; then let 
as consent to the discipline of the world while 
they come to help us ; to be a part of our training 
in patience, in charity, in faith, in all devotion. I 
know it seems hard to wait for the glory of the 
Lord; but the marble may well be content to tarry 
in the studio of the sculptor until he has touched 
it again and again ; and the statue will be willing to 
wait, if it knows that presently the last rough and the 
final tender touch shall be given, and after that — 
not always kept under the chisel and the hammer; 
not always in this rude workshop, with the broken 
stone and scattered dust upon the floor ; not always 
waiting among these masks and models — pres- 
ently it shall stand out in its place of honor, 
where men shall look up to catch the thought that 



WHY STAND YE GAZIXG 1 121 

is incarnate in the marble, and the lips shall speak 
and the face shall reflect the thought of Him out 
of whom the creation has sprung ; a living thought 
for a world that needs to be made alive. 

Why stand we gazing into heaven? Let us 
take the truths of heaven and go down and live 
them out. The Lord is gone, but he is here. It 
is not the repeating of his name, it is the doing 
of his will which is to avail. He is here ; not 
in the far country alone, but watching us here. 
When McGregor led his clan into the battle of 
Prestonpans, and the chief was wounded and fell 
bleeding upon the ground, his men, dismayed and 
disheartened, began to waver, until the wounded 
chieftain, raising himself upon his elbow, while the 
blood flowed from his wounds, cried out, " I am 
not dead, my children ; I am looking at you, to see 
}^ou do your duty." They rallied and rushed on 
to that whereunto he had called them to the field. 
Christ lives. He is here ; he is looking at us. 
He is here, not to be met with our wondering eyes, 
but with our obedient life. " Blessed is that ser- 
vant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so 
doing." " He that doeth the will of God abideth 
forever." 



If any man "vrill serve, 

Then let him follow me ; 
For where T am, be thou right sure, 
There shall my servant be. 



VII. 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIRIT. 



Schipture Lesson : 1 Cor. ii. 

Text : Not by might nor by -power, but by my spirit, saith 
tlie Lord of hosts. Zech. iv : C. 






THIS was one of the instances in which might 
and power, that is, a control by force, would 
be thought to have its place. It was a question 
between two nations, two peoples. The Jews had 
been trying for a long time to rebuild their temple. 
They had been carried into captivity. To gain 
the right to rebuild the temple would be the occa- 
sion for revolt. Let them conquer their oppressors, 
go back to their own country, and raise again the 
house which had been destroyed. But the record 
of the rebuilding is this : " The Lord stirred up 
the spirit of Cyrus." Cyrus was a Pagan and 
cared nothing for the temple ; but the Lord stirred 
up his spirit to incite the Jews to build their house, 
and the}-' began it. Then came those long periods 
of opposition, when Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes 
occupied the throne of Persia, and the Samaritans 
were continually hindering these temple-builders. 

122 



NOT BY MIGIIT, BUT BY SPIRIT, 123 

That was a time for them to rise against the 
Samaritans ; it was a time for God to make bare 
his arm, as he had done against Pharaoh and his 
host. Instead of that, the Lord put it into the 
heart of Darius,the king, to search the records of 
the kingdom, where he found the old decree which 
God had inclined Cyras to make. Renewing that 
decree, he rebuked the Samaritans, and required 
them to aid those whom they had been opposing. 
The temple rose to its completion, not by the 
might of arms, not by the power of revolution, but 
" by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." It 
became, then, in the highest sense, a house that was 
not made with hands. 

This is to be accepted as God's ordinary way of 
working in the world. He does exercise power ; 
he does come with judgment ; he does put forth 
his omnipotent force and control men and nations ; 
but his common way is quiet and gentle, in the 
hearts of men ; and when he uses more violent 
and evident methods, in them and after them may 
be found this silent working of his spirit. The 
wind rends the mountains and breaks the rocks in 
pieces ; the earthquake makes the hills tremble ; 
the fire flashes from cliff to cliff, and lights the deep 
gorges ; but God is not in wind, or earthquake, or 
fire. He comes "not b}~ might, nor by power." 
But there is " after the fire a still, small voice." 

This method of God's working commends itself 
to us. It is more majestic ; it is grander. The 



124 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



great forces of God work quietly, as in light and 
life. It is more rational ; it is the recognition of 
God's spiritual nature and of man's, and of that 
liberty which God has given to man so that he is 
not to be compelled, but to be persuaded. It is 
direct; for it goes to the seat of man's thoughts 
and actions. It is more lasting, for what is done 
upon a man in the way of outward act, controlling 
his conduct, will be much less permanent than 
that which is done in his character, sinking down 
into his will and wish and purpose, where it is likely 
to abide. As we come to measure the methods of 
men and to arrange the ways of our own working 
in the world, we find, as we see when we look upon 
the course of God's providence, that the great 
forces are those which work quietly and spiritually, 
and not the physical and material forces. Thus it 
is with us personally. The men who influence us 
most are not those who try to drive us to do their 
will. We always resist, by virtue of all that 
makes us men, when any one tries to compel us. 
One can do almost what he will with us, except 
force us into a way in which we do not wish to 
walk. By his spirit, by his reasoning, by his per- 
suasion, by the force of his example, by the sweet 
benignit}^ of his character and presence, he can 
win us to himself. So, when we go out to work 
upon others, we come back disappointed and vexed 
if we have tried to force a man ; but we often 
have success when we try to win him. The old 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIRIT. 125 

fable is true philosophy ; it is not the wind, it is 
the sun which brings the traveller to its own terms. 
In the family, in the school, and even in the care 
of the criminal and the insane, we find still that 
with the passing away of that which is violent, and 
the bringing in of gentler methods, we are caring 
for children and men in a better way. It is so 
when we look abroad upon those who go out into 
the earth and gain power over savages and bar- 
barians. Livingstone drew men to himself by his 
gentleness and kindness, and he became a father 
to them. This is the great force of history. The 
history of our own land is written in a single verse 
by one of our poets : 

The voice of the Lord by night 
To the watching pilgrims came, 

As they sat by the seaside, 
And filled their hearts with flame. 

Whatever may be done by the great movements 
of armies and nations, the moving force underneath 
these has been this mighty working of God's spirit 
through the human will. 

Often among men it has been the gentlest, most 
quiet ministrations which have produced the greatest 
results. When Edward had starved Calais into 
surrender, and held the city which he had so long 
besieged, it was in his power to destroy it; but 
the people preserved their city and preserved their 
lives, " not b} T might." He said that he would 



126 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

spare the city if six of the citizens would give 
themselves into his hands ; and six of the leading 
men came out, stripped of their raiment, every 
man with a halter about his neck. They bore the 
keys of the city; they threw themselves at the 
king's feet ; they gave themselves unreservedly 
into his hands, and asked for his mercy. They 
were answered with a call for the executioner. 
There were his knights, and there was the great 
army, but they had no power over him. He was 
the monarch, and all power was with him. Then 
Philippa knelt at his feet and cried, " All, gentle 
sire, now pray I, and beseech you, with folded 
hands, for the love of our Lady's son to have mercy 
upon them ! " 

And the king answered, " Lady, I would rather 
you had been otherwhere. You pray so tenderly 
that I dare not refuse you; and though I do it 
against my will, I give them to you." So the lives 
of the men were spared, the peace of the city was 
saved, and the honor of the king and the English 
people was preserved ; " Not by might, nor by 
power," but by the spirit of a woman's prayer. 

Or if we look upon the rulers of the world, in 
the various departments of life, we find the same 
principle at work. Great armies do not of them- 
selves win the victory. It is the silent counsel 
of the men at the head of the army. Great 
statesmen are not by their open deeds controlling 
men ; it is more by the thought wrought out in 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIRIT. 127 

their chambers. Great artists are not artists by 
force of physical power, but by a certain spiritual 
character which belongs to them, which never can 
be imitated, and into which no training can ever 
bring a man. An English painter said, " I mix 
my paint with brains." Guiclo said of Rubens, 
"He mixes his paint with blood." Surely it is 
this genius which, working within a man, makes 
him able to control others through that which 
he does before their eyes. 

Again the force which works in woman, which 
gives her that marvellous influence which is 
scarcely second to anything in the world to-day, 
is a force which is not gained by noise or by 
pushing forward into prominence. But in her 
own place, with her voice, with her example, with 
her training of children, with all that is beautiful 
and strong in her character, she gains control of 
the thought and method of those whose work is 
more manifest and more resounding through the 
world. The whole march of civilization is upon 
this line. Every gain we make is a gain of 
spiritual over material force. It is the putting 
away of armies, the forces of war ; it is the with- 
holding of physical control ; it is bringing out 
reason, conscience, and those immaterial and 
invisible forces which have their seat in the heart 
of man, and have the field of their working in the 
hearts of other men. As civilization goes on from 
this immature state towards its completion, more 



128 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



and more shall we find the working not of might, 
nor power, but of spiritual energy, of spiritual 
influence over the hearts of men. 

If this be so within this little domain of ours, 
where we have this influence one over another, 
still more is it true when we reach out into the 
eternal working of God and seek to find in what 
way he will bring his own purposes to pass. It is 
not by great, astounding works — by the thunder 
of his voice, by the roar of his tempests, by the 
flashing of his lightning — that God seeks to con- 
trol men. It is by the Virgin's child, born in a 
little village, in an obscure province, the spirit of 
whose life is, "He shall not strive nor cry; 
neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets ; " 
who is ordained for his ministr}^ by the descent of 
a dove upon him, and who finds his work in the 
world when John the Baptist, with his loud voice, 
has receded ; when he baptizes men not with the 
water of the Jordan, which they could see, and 
whose flowing, falling drops they could watch, but 
with the Spirit of the living God in their hearts. 
Even this is not to be continued. This visible 
presence must be withdrawn. St. Paul says, 
"Though I have known Christ after the flesh, yet 
now henceforth know I him no more." He would 
not know any one whom he could see ; he would not 
hear any one whose voice fell upon his ear. Only 
spiritual vision should control him ; only spiritual 
utterances should guide him ; for there had come, 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIBIT. 129 

when the Christ had vanished from the earth, as it 
was expedient that he should do, the reign of the 
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who should, because he 
is Spirit, control the spirits of men who control 
themselves and who govern the world. 

Hence when we come to this spiritual era we 
come into an advance, a sudden and marked 
advance, of this spiritual, unseen agency. That 
day which stands out from all the days of Pente- 
cost as the Day of Pentecost is not thus distin- 
guished by the "sound as of the rushing of a 
mighty wind," for there had been a rushing, mighty 
wind ever since there had been a wind to blow. 
The grand distinguishing peculiarity which sepa- 
rates and signalizes the Day of Pentecost is the 
coming of a spiritual power, unseen and mysteri- 
ous, which, descending out of heaven, finds its 
way into the spirits of men and there works its 
holy and divine pleasure ; and that which is still 
the highest in all Scripture, as in all human 
thought, is this spiritual presence. 

Brethren, we have come to the beginning of 
the end. We shall change our place, but shall 
not advance beyond this period that we are living 
in. The spiritual reign of God to-day is the be- 
ginning of the everlasting reign of God. It is the 
eternal reign of spirit and of truth in that kingdom 
which is no longer at Jerusalem ; which is not army 
nor government, palace nor cathedral; which is 
" righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." 



130 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

If we pass for a moment to the examination of 
those things which it is necessary to have done in 
the world, as our Lord himself has described them 
— and the catalogue is neither brief nor narrow — 
we find that every one of them must necessarily 
be done by the Spirit, if it is done at all. There 
are certain things which a man can do by outward 
force. He can fell the tree; he can break the 
rock ; he can shut men in prison ; he can drive 
them by his whip ; he can take away their exist- 
ence in this world, and after that he has no more 
that he can do. The grand things which must be 
done must be done by the Spirit of God in the 
spirit of men. Let us look at the list for a moment. 

If a man is to enter upon the life of the sons 
of God, he must enter upon it in the only 
way in which life is ever entered upon, and that is 
by birth. If he is to come into the household of 
God and be God's child, he must be born into it. 
There are no orphans in God's house ; there are 
no strangers there. None dwell with God on earth 
or in heaven except the children of God, and no 
one becomes God's child except by birth. Hence 
there comes this need of the new birth. " Ye 
must be born again," is our first step in righteous- 
ness and eternal life. Surely that is a spiritual 
work. You cannot by any outward demonstration 
create a man's thoughts over again, renew his pur- 
poses, change the current of his life. It must be 
done within him ; and the only thing which can 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIRIT. 131 

work within him is the Spirit which can enter into 
a man. 

Again, it is necessary that men should be con- 
vinced of sin, and of righteousness, and of judg- 
ment ; and this can only be done by the Spirit of 
God. It is necessary that some one should take 
of the things of Christ and show them unto men, 
and guide men into all truth; and this can only be 
done by the Spirit. Again, it is necessary that 
there should be a continual abiding of God with 
men. Everywhere, in all the homes of men, there 
must be this divine presence which can only be a 
spiritual presence. This is to give the witness to 
us that w r e are God's children ; this is to give us 
the assurance whereby we can say, "Abba, Father," 
and look up into the face of Jehovah of hosts. 
The Spirit comes to us, again, to give us that 
which is described in the large word of the New 
Testament, " Comfort." The Comforter must be 
in the heart of us. You cannot comfort a man 
when he is in trouble by building him a larger 
house, or hj pouring wealth into his lap. Com- 
fort must find the troubled heart ; and the only 
Comforter of the world is the divine Comforter, 
who, with all consolation in his hand, bears his 
solace into the troubled hearts of the children of 
men. 

It is a beautiful suggestion which the Psalmist 
made long ago. And how many of these old verses 
of the Psalmists and of the Prophets come out 



132 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

with new light and enlargement when we read 
them with the New Testament in our hands ! The 
Holy Spirit descended upon our Lord in bodily 
form as a dove, and he was the Comforter. The 
emblem of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament 
is the dove resting upon humanity in the Son of 
Man. Now read the words of David : " Oh, that I 
had wings like a dove ! " But such wings would 
not be strong enough to bear us above the trouble 
and weariness of this world. Read that verse now 
with the New Testament open before you, and how 
full of strength it becomes ; how full of reality, sat- 
isfaction, and power! The devout and longing 
soul breathes forth a better aspiration : " Oh, that I 
had the wings of the dove, the Holy Ghost, the 
Comforter ; then would I fly away, borne up on 
these almighty pinions, into the everlasting rest." 
If we take that work which is } r et to be done 
in the world, to win the world unto the love of 
Christ, still it is the same spiritual work, bringing 
men into new lives, that they may have a new 
destiny of righteousness and of eternal life. 
Trulv, as one reads it again, there comes a fresh 
interpretation of an old Scripture. So many say 
nowadays that the Old Testament is harsh and 
unkind. I suppose they say so because they do 
not read it. You can say what you please about a 
man whom you do not know. One who knows 
the Old Testament will not say that. But how 
beautiful, how enlarged, how strong, how precious, 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIBIT. 133 

becomes the Old Testament thought in the light 
of the New. For it was an Old Testament saint 
who said, " Thy gentleness,*' thy quietness, thy 
patience, thy love, not thy might nor thy power, 
" thy gentleness hath made me great." 

Thus it must be always ; and we are not sur- 
prised at this the moment we think who the Holy 
Spirit is. It is not the wind, it is not light. It 
is the spirit of God entering into the spirit of man. 
The Holy Spirit is God. If any one shall say the 
Holy Spirit seems sometimes to be spoken of as 
an influence proceeding into the world, still it is 
God's influence. There have been persons who 
have doubted the divinity of Christ ; I believe no 
one doubts the divinity of the Holy Spirit. It is 
God's influence, if it is an influence. Rather it 
is God having influence, who is the Holy Spirit. 
When one thinks how great God is, and how near 
he can come to us because we are spirit as he 
is spirit, then he finds the provision for all this 
that shall come. 

Hence we find, passing again from the Old 
Testament to the New, how a word which there 
is set aside in the sentence of the Prophet, comes 
from the lips of the Christ with all its force 
strengthened, and becomes one of the telling and 
inspiring words of the Gospel truth. " Not by 
power," said the Prophet ; and Jesus said, " Ye 
shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost 
is come upon you." " Not by God's hand," said 



134 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

the Prophet; "By my spirit," said the Christ. 
" Not by what shall be clone outwardly upon men, 
but by what shall be done in the hearts of men," 
said the Prophet. " Ye shall receive power over the 
hearts of men," Jesus taught, when on the Mount 
of the Ascension he gave his last promise to the 
disciples whom he was to leave in the world. The 
power is that which makes human efficiency and 
accomplishment. 

Knowledge is said to be power. Knowledge is 
power in the same sense that wood is fuel. Wood 
on fire is fuel ; knowledge on fire is power. There 
is no more power in knowledge than there is in 
the stones or stars which you know, unless there 
be a spirit and life in the knowledge which give 
it its energy. In proportion as men have this 
spiritual power do they become strong in the 
world. If I may borrow the illustration from one 
of our own writers ; when Eric starts from Green- 
land in robust health he will steer west, and his 
ships will reach Newfoundland. But take out Eric 
and put in Biorne or Thorfin, and with just as 
much ease the ship will find New England. The 
difference between Eric and Biorno is a difference 
of spirit. The difference between Peter on the 
day of Pentecost and Peter before is a difference 
of spiritual power. Hear his last question before 
he comes to the Ascension : "Lord, and what shall 
this man do ? " Hear his question on the Mount 
of the Ascension : " Wilt thou at this time restore 



NOT BY MIGIIT, BUT BY SPIRIT. 135 

again the kingdom to Israel?" Hear his words 
when the Spirit of God has descended upon him ; 
words which have never ceased ; which have brought 
men by the thousands into the new life by the 
cross. Take Saul of Tarsus with all his madness ; 
he learns no new philosophy at Damascus, gains 
nothing of that which is accounted knowledge. 
There comes upon him, after he has gone into the 
city, the Holy Ghost, and St. Paul from that hour 
outstrips all others in the greatness of his accom- 
plishment in the hearts and lives of men. 

Power comes to knowledge to give it efficiency. 
Knowledge without power is like the heir-apparent 
to the throne. He is of royal blood, but he has 
no authority. Knowledge with power is the 
prince on the throne, with the crown and sceptre. 
Power comes to good resolution to give it effi- 
ciency. This is weak; it is worthless in itself. " I 
will arise and go to my father," is a purpose, and 
the man is as hungry and as ragged after it as he 
was before. " I arise and go to my father ; " that 
is resolution with power hi it. Duty comes to us 
as something hard, and we shrink from it. No 
one is a large man if he does not feel that his 
duty is larger than himself. Our ideas of duty are 
too petty, and too low, if we are able of ourselves 
to change them into the deeds. It never was 
meant that a man by himself should do his work. 
The Sermon on the Mount is beyond every one of 
us. But with the Sermon on the Mount comes 



136 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



the promise of power by which we can meet its 
duties ; and when we take the commandment 
with the power which accompanies it, then we 
can do our duty. God who gives the duty gives 
himself to make us strong for the duty. " When 
religion ceases to demand the impossible, it ceases 
to be religion," some one has said, and it is a 
simple and profound truth. So in our way of 
attainment. We look at these visions of Christian 
character, and how far beyond us they seem as they 
are presented in the New Testament ? And who 
can ever come up to this excellency of heart and 
of life, to be perfect, to be holy ? We do well to 
despair and say, " It is a dream, this thought of 
being so great. It may be for apostles ; it may be 
for pious women ; it is not for business men." It 
is for business men. Business men are to be saints. 
Business is to be as holy as praying, or we have no 
right to touch it with one of our fingers ; and our 
common occupations are to be as holy as the work 
of the angels. Can it ever be? Of course it can 
never be. Let us abandon all hope of it. Then 
let us make it true. For Jesus says, when he sets 
before us this lofty ideal, I will give yon power ; 
I will bear your thoughts up ; I will inspire your 
purposes ; I will attend you through all the strain 
and stress of life, and you shall be clean, for I will 
make you pure. When Christ keeps a man, there 
is not pollution enough in the world to stain his 
garments ; there is not heat enough in the fur- 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIRIT. 137 

nace to put the smell of fire even upon his robes. 

Or, if we think of Christian work which we are 
to do for men as ministers of God's grace, again 
we shrink from it. How can we bring men to 
the Saviour ? " It is of no use for me to speak to 
my neighbor," a man says. " There is very little 
comes from preaching the gospel," men say. 
" There is very little good comes from the Sab- 
bath-school," some think. There is truth in these 
words and thoughts. Not by the might of words, 
not by the power of preaching, when a man's lips 
utter the truth to human ears, can the work be 
done. But when the school becomes filled with 
the Spirit of God ; when in every teacher's heart 
is the Holy Spirit speaking through his lips ; when 
the Spirit of God gives you truth to utter, and 
prepares the heart of the one to whom you shall 
speak it, and when you obey the Spirit, then your 
ministry becomes a power in the world. 

It is not strange that our lives seem to us so 
weak. There are some of you who are wont 
to express your discontent with life and its 
results. You are discontented and it will grow 
worse and worse. You will go through a series 
of disappointments, and on your dying bed you 
will say that life is a failure, and it may be you 
will tell the truth. It may be a failure. It is 
a pity to work hard fifty years and then die with 
little done. But we do. We are not equal to 
life ; we cannot bear its temptations ; we cannot 



138 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

meet its duties ; we cannot fulfil our purposes ; 
and it is in vain that we rely upon might and 
power. "But have I not all my years attended 
church? " one may ask. " Do I not try very hard 
to do right?" Very likely. "Not by might" 
do men do right; "not by power" do men fulfil 
the end of their being, "but by my spirit, saith 
the Lord of hosts." Only God is as great as a 
human life. A man is not large enough for that 
which God requires of him, since sin has shrunken 
him to small proportions. If you will let the 
Spirit of God come into your heart and make 
your thoughts ; if you will let him mark out your 
path day by clay, and then tread it; if you will 
listen to his suggestions and obey his word, to-day 
will be successful, to-morrow will be prosperous. 
Men will praise you, and, better than that, your 
heart will commend you. Then, and never until 
then, will the voice of the Christ say " Well done, 
good and faithful servant." 

I would save you, and I would save myself, 
from narrow and earthly living. I would come 
with you into these high and holy purposes which 
shall accomplish great results. But it is not by 
external means ; it is not by the struggle of our 
spirits ; it is not by the force of our will ; it is only 
as the great, wise, and loving will of the Spirit of 
God enters into our spirit, that we become great 
enough. I read only last week the instruction 
of an actor touching those things which are requi- 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIRIT. 139 

site for success in his calling. This writer said 
that there are three things necessary : talent, train- 
ing — but these two would not accomplish much; 
there must also be what was called "inspiration." 
I said, " Saul also is among the prophets." If to 
personate somebody else ; if to go through an 
hour's mimicry for the entertainment of a throng : 
if to amuse without much prospect of improving ; 
if this demands more than talent and more than 
training, even a spirit within, then to be real men 
and to do a real work which shall make the 
streets safer, which shall make life happier, which 
shall bring the kingdom of God nearer, this 
demands more than might — the might of human 
strength; more than power — the power of a trained 
will. It demands "My spirit, saith the Lord 
of hosts." I suppose that we get as much return 
from life as we have any right to expect. Our 
might can only repeat the poverty of the recom- 
pense, till our failing breath shall say, " Vanity of 
vanities." Where is our wisdom to-day, but in 
opening our hearts to the strength which never 
fails ; to the incoming of the life which is the 
beginning of immortality ! Then shall we reign ; 
then shall we do our daily work in the power and 
glory of it. Then shall man be served, and God 
be glorified. 

It is this — let me say again — it is this which the 
world needs. They tell us the Church has lost its 
power in the world. It is not true. But the 



140 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Church will enlarge its influence when it has 
enlarged its spirit. The greatest gift which you 
can give to your profession, to your house, to the 
community, is the gift of a man who lives by the 
power of God's Spirit teaching him, directing him, 
employing him, and who shall carry down into all 
the sordidness and earthiness of the world a spir- 
itual character, spiritual utterances, spiritual vision ; 
a life that is made up by the power of the endless 
years. 

I turn from this subject with regret. As I stand 
with you to-clay and see how life promises to 
repeat its inefficiency, and that many of us are 
likely to lie down at last defeated, and perhaps in 
the grave of the wicked, I cannot cease from say- 
ing to } r ou and to myself, that there is but one 
thing which can save us; but one way in which we 
can glorify God in our heart and our life ; and that 
is, not by simply trying to be good ; not by working 
hard to do good ; it is by receiving the Spirit into 
our spirit ; praying God to come to us and take us ; 
to teach us, to guide us, to use us. Then God's 
success shall be our success ; life shall be glorified, 
and God shall be honored. 

There stands the organ, as it has stood through 
these minutes in which I have been speaking to 
you. Unless it falls in pieces, it may stand there 
for many years, silent as at this moment. There 
is no voice in its pipes; no sound issues 
from it. It is dumb ; it is dead. If the skilled 



NOT BY MIGHT, BUT BY SPIRIT. 141 

hands of the player touch the keys, you will hear 
the rattle, but there will be no music. Handel 
himself might come and lay his fingers, heavy with 
melody, upon the keys ; there would be the same 
rattle which a boy could make. Dumb organ, 
dead, let the sexton bury it out of our sight. 
There is only one thing which can save it : a 
breath' from without ; a spirit which shall come as 
the wind comes. The air which is in this great 
outer world must be breathed into its pipes, and 
answer to the hands of a man, pouring out its obe- 
dient harmony. It will wake to music, and to 
thought, and life, and worship, only as the breath 
of the living God moves through its silence. If it 
be true of an organ, it is true of a man. Only as 
God breathes through our reason and conscience ; 
breathes through these lips and out of this life of 
ours, only then shall we utter the melody which 
will enlarge the harmony of the world and blend 
with the eternal minstrelsy of the supernal courts. 

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, 
With all thy quickening powers. 

Brethren, it is your last hope. Bat it is a hope. 



VIII. 

GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



Sckipture Lessor : Romans viii : 14-39. 

Text : Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Eph. iv: 30. 

THIS brings the Holy Spirit very near to us. 
We must be in intimate relations with him, 
if we can grieve him. He is no longer afar off; he 
is not indifferent to our words or our will ; he is 
close to us, tenderly regarding us, intimately inter- 
ested iu us, if what we can do can grieve the Spirit 
of God, who is the spirit of blessedness. 

We are reminded again by this teaching of the 
personality of the Spirit. You cannot grieve a 
thing; you cannot grieve an influence; nothing 
can be grieved but that which has a heart, and a 
will, and a life — a person. The Holy Spirit is 
the Spirit of God ; God is spirit ; God is the Holy 
Spirit ; the Holy Spirit is God. 

It is clear that it is a matter of extreme concern 
that, if God be so near' to us, we who would 
receive his blessing should be submissive to his 
will; should be governed by his guidance ; should 

142 " 



GRIEVING THE IIOLY SPIRIT. 143 

let him pour upon us the riches of his grace. It 
must be a sad thing if one, for any reason, shuts 
himself out from the blessing and grace of God ; 
if he grieves God so that he withdraws his pres- 
ence and the man fails of those things which the 
lavish mere} 7 would bestow upon him — the 
exceeding richness of his grace. 

The Spirit coming into the world to bless us 
does not come on an independent mission. Let us 
notice, first of all, the precise position of the work 
of the Spirit of God. " God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." The Son of God so loved the 
world that he gave himself, that men might have 
everlasting life. The Father and the Son so loved 
the world that they gave the Holy Spirit that men 
might have everlasting life. Between the love 
which is in the heart of God and that love posses- 
sing the heart of a man, ruling it and blessing it, 
stands the cross of Christ who is the incarnate 
and crucified love of God. The work of the Holy 
Spirit is to bring this love which is in God's heart, 
and which works so wondrously and graciously in 
the cross of the Son of God, into our lives, to 
make it effective there, that the highest purpose 
of God may be accomplished ; that the greatest 
thought of the love of God may fulfil itself within 
the lives of men. This is the work of the Spirit 
of God which we are to recognize and to think 



144 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

upon. He comes to us to do nothing of himself. 
Most expressive is that word of the blessed Lord : 
" The Holy Spirit shall not speak of himself." 
Precisely as Jesus asserted his oneness with the 
Father when he said, I am so united with the 
Father that it is not possible I should do anything 
as separate from him ; I can only do that which I 
do in union with him ; so does he say of the 
spirit, apart from the Father and apart from 
me, he can do nothing. It is by the Spirit of 
God, taking the ]ove of God and the redemption 
of Christ and carrying them into the spirit of men, 
that the first and the last thought of God is accom- 
plished in the hearts of his children. 

We have but to turn to those things which 
Christ said concerning the Spirit if we would find 
the special work which he is to do. We may 
divide it, in a general way, into three parts. 
There are three things, or three classes of things, 
which our Lord has told us that the Holy Spirit 
will do. In the first place, " He shall glorify me ; " 
that is, he shall show me to the world ; he shall 
make my glory to shine before men. What a tes- 
timony it is to our Lord Jesus Christ, that God 
comes into the world to glorify him ! Of what 
man could it be said, of what angel could it be 
said, that the great work of God in the world 
is to glorify him ? Yet our Lord said, that the 
work of the Holy Ghost in the world is to make 
Christ glorious. " He shall glorify me." " He 



GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 145 

shall testify of me ; he shall take of mine and 
shall show it unto 3*011 ;" that is, he shall stand 
in the stead of Christ that men ma}^ see Christ. 

Secondly. " He shall guide you into all truth ; " 
not through all truth, but into all truth; not 
into all departments of truth, the scientific, and 
philosophical, and historical, but into, within, 
all that truth which is concerned in the love and 
in the redemption of God. " He shall show you 
things to come." 

Thirdly. He shall work within the spirit of 
a man, that the will of God may be done there. 
Since the evil in man is his departure from God, 
the Holy Spirit shall bring him back to God. 
Since man is fallen from his divine nature, the 
Spirit shall restore him to the divine nature, that 
he may begin again in life ; that, with the old 
become new, he may make up a new life. To 
this end he shall make men feel their need of 
Christ, by reproving them of sin. He shall make 
them feel the power of Christ, by showing them 
his redemption which is crowned by his resurrec- 
tion. He shall make them feel the eternal separa- 
tion between right and wrong, which is called the 
judgment, by revealing to them the essential dif- 
ference and the everlasting difference between one 
who serves God and one who does not serve God. 

Thus, if we take these three departments of 
life — the glorifying Christ, the guiding into the 
truth, and the making the truth practically effec- 



146 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

tive within the minds of men — we get, in a, 
general way, the work which the Holy Spirit is 
to do in the world. He is to bring men to Christ 
personally, and unite them to him, and then he is 
to guide them along the Christian life. Hence 
you find that he is spoken of under various terms, 
all implying this enlightenment and this elevation 
of the life. He is the "Holy Spirit." He is the 
" spirit of grace." He is the " spirit of glory." 
He is the "spirit of promise." He is the "spirit 
of God." He is .the " spirit of Christ." He is 
the Holy Spirit — holy in himself, being the very 
nature of God, and so doing a holy work in the 
hearts of the children of men. As many as are 
led by him, they are the sons of God; and as 
man} r as have the witness of the Spirit in their 
spirit that they are born of God, are able, out of 
the heart, to repeat the words which any one can 
say with his lips, " Abba Father." 

If it be asked in what way this Spirit in our 
hearts does this work, how this will of Gocl is 
accomplished by the Spirit, it is evident, at the 
outset, that we must say he does it by a spirit- 
ual presence and a spiritual power. The work 
is not something which can be described in the 
terms of our ordinary language, because our ordi- 
nary terms are separate from it. It comes by the 
influence of the Spirit which we are like and of 
which we are born, upon our spirits which are born 
of him. Sometimes men may be called by an 



GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 147 

outward demonstration of might or of power ; but 
the work of the Spirit is the work of God upon the 
hearts of men. Hence you are not to look for 
anything surprising in the external world. There 
will be no new star in the heavens ; there may be 
no great commotion in society ; there may be no 
revolution in your own house. If God does any- 
thing for you, he will do it quietly and gently and 
simply in the heart of you, giving it a new thought, 
or a stronger thought, a new impulse, a new 
impression ; a changed direction ; something of 
which the world will know nothing at the time ; 
of which you may know little, perhaps, unless you 
are sensitive to the touch of a friend, sensitive to 
the influence of a spirit upon your spirit. The 
prophet is roused by the wind and by the fire ; but 
God is not in the wind nor the fire. These are to 
awaken him ; then God speaks to his attentive 
ear, and the man wraps his face in his mantle and 
stands at the entering in of the cave and hears the 
command and comfort of God. God often rouses 
us by these outward demonstrations of his power, 
that we may listen to the quiet speaking of his 
voice. 

The work of the Holy Spirit in us will employ 
various methods. In the first place, it will be a 
direct spiritual influence upon our hearts ; the 
Spirit of God coming into contact with our spirit, 
touching it, affecting it, as light flows into light, 
as air flows into air, as water flows into water, 



148 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

simply passing through our spirit, as light passes 
through a crystal, which is one of the illustrations 
that have been given. Again, the Spirit will 
oftentimes come to us through our conscience, 
quickening it, making it speak with a more author- 
itative voice. He will come again through our 
reason, guiding us by our processes of thought to 
certain conclusions which are in accordance with 
the will of God. Again, he will come to us 
through our experience, teaching us the lessons of 
our own life and impressing them upon us until we 
are wiser by that through which we have passed. 
Again, he will come to us through the opportuni- 
ties of life, which is one of his favorite ways of 
approach, showing us what we may do, and what 
we ought to do, only that he may reveal to us the 
will of God, and may bring us up into that which 
is higher and holier in life. Again, and more 
especially, he will come to us through the truth of 
God. If holy men as they were moved by God 
have written the Scriptures, men are to read the 
Holy Scriptures as they are moved by him. He 
will take the word out of the lips of prophet and 
apostle ; he will take the word of Christ, which 
to-day to us may have no meaning ; and he will 
repeat the word, and make us think upon it, and feel 
it, until the word becomes light and life to our soul. 
He will speak to us through the truth uttered by 
the preacher's voice, by the teacher's, by the 
father's or mother's, oftentimes by words which 



GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 149 

have gained power because the lips which littered 
them have turned to dust. How many of the 
memories of life, repeating the truths which those 
have spoken who have fallen upon sleep, are sim« 
ply the way which the Holy Spirit takes, uttering 
his truth in language from which we cannot turn 
away, in a voice whose tones have become sweeter 
to us because we have lost sight of the face which 
was before us when they were spoken ; taking the 
words of a sainted father or of a holy mother, and 
in their language, in the very tones of their voice, 
trying to repeat to us the thought of God. You 
say it is your father speaking to you; it is the 
Holy Ghost speaking through a father's voice. 
You say you have tender memories of your 
mother; the Holy Spirit comes through those 
recollections, thinking that now he has the word 
which you cannot resist, that at least you will 
hear her who was the dearest to you, and that he 
may persuade you into the ways of God. He will 
come again through the Church and its ordi- 
nances and its sacraments, which have no grace by 
virtue of their nature, but which are made the 
vehicle of the grace of God to men. 

It is evident that in all these ways it is the pur- 
pose of God to find our hearts, and it is the 
method of God to enter into our hearts, that there 
he may control us. The Spirit of God does not 
come to add a cubit to our stature. He does not 
make one hair white or black. He may not 



150 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

enlarge our resources. He may not strengthen 
our intellect — yet I suppose he does. If I am 
not mistaken, a man has a stronger mind and 
stronger reasoning faculties, he has a larger intel- 
lect, when God is in his mind. A man's power to 
study and grasp truth, all the truth of God, in 
nature, in religion, in science and in philosophy, 
is greatest when the man's mind and heart are full 
of the Spirit of the living God. 

But it will be asked, how, if these things are to 
be discerned spiritually, and are to be the spirit- 
ual working of God in us, can we bring him to us 
that this power shall become a reality in our 
experience? If it were a man, we might call 
him ; if it were a school, we might enter it ; if 
it were a book, we might read it. But if it be 
the coming of spirit into spirit, what can we 
who are in the flesh do, that he may enter into 
us ? The question indicates a common mistake. 
Strange that men should think that there is some- 
thing we must do in order to bring God near 
to us, when God is as close to us as our own life ; 
when within God we are living and moving. 
They cannot have read the Bible if they think 
that in some way they must search the heavens 
to bring God down, or descend into the depths 
to bring God up. He is near our hearts to-day. 
What is the whole representation of Scripture ? 
That God is speaking to us, and is so near that 
we can hear his voice. What is the promise to 



GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 151 

prayer? That God's ear is so near that he hears 
us, even when we do not lisp the words. How 
shall God be nearer to a man than that ? Is he 
not always calling us, not waiting to be called of 
us ? Is he not always pleading with us, entreat- 
ing us, warning us, that he may bring us to him- 
self? How vivid is that language of Scripture : 
" Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Let 
me warn you against the error, that, staying 
within your bolted doors, }~ou must wait for God 
to come down out of the heavens ; lifting up your 
voice, beseeching him to come, that you may feel 
his presence. If you would stop talking long 
enough, you would hear his knock at the door ; 
if you would be still long enough, you would find 
his finger at the latch ; if }'ou would only open 
your heart, you would find him within the heart. 

Yet are we not told in the Scriptures that we 
must ask for the Holy Spirit ? Is it not said that 
God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
him ? Yes ; but in what connection is it said ? 
It is said that God will give the Holy Spirit as a 
loving father will give bread to his children — 
bread, the staff of life ; the spirit, the staff of life. 
But how does the father give to his child ? Are 
your children in the habit of begging you for 
bread? Do they go to bed at night anxious lest 
there should be no food for them ? Do you not 
provide the bread, and place it upon the table, and 
summon them to eat, perhaps oftentimes compel 



152 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

them to go in ? The asking of a child for bread 
is answered before it is heard. Your child has 
not prayed for his daily bread for this noon and this 
evening, but you have it ready. He may ask, but 
there is no need of begging. The prayer for the 
Holy Spirit will be the natural expression of 
desire. We should ask out of a heart which 
knows that it will have the blessing as it is sure 
of the Father's love and has the Father's promise, 
and his presence. We must open the heart, open 
the nature, open the spirit, and let the Spirit 
come in. 

The light as it shines out of the heavens falls 
upon the marble, plays upon its surface, brightens 
it for a moment, but does not pass within it. The 
marble is not open to the light. The same light 
falls upon the diamond, harder than marble, passes 
into it, and there divides its own brightness, its 
purple and its gold, and flashes it out before 
the eyes of men. Be not the marble, and let 
the Spirit of God lie upon the stony heart. Be 
the diamond, and let the Spirit of God enter 
into the heart to enlighten it, to linger in it, to 
make it bright and beautiful, until men shall 
behold its glory as it is illumined with the glory 
of God. But for this it is necessary to put far 
from us all alien things — the unholy thing, that 
we may have holiness ; the selfish thing, that we 
may have charity ; the earthly thing, that we 
may have the heavenly. We must give all we 



GRIEVING THE HOLY S PIE IT. 153 

have ; part with all our pearls for a better one, 
sell all our land for a field with a treasure in it ; 
give up ourselves to find God ; give up this world 
to find heaven ; give up our sin to find righteous- 
ness ; give up to-day to find the endless } T ears. 

We are to obey Christ if we would have the 
Holy Spirit. He said, " If ye love me, beep my 
commandments, and I will pray the Father, and 
he shall give you another Comforter, that he may 
abide with you forever." Do the will of the Christ, 
and you shall have the Spirit of the Christ. 

Perhaps it w T ill be said that these methods which 
I have sketched are rather the result ; that they 
are the things to be obtained through the Spirit, 
rather than the method by which we may receive 
the Spirit. I think the point is well taken ; yet 
one falls naturally into this way of speaking. 
Before you open your heart to the Spirit, the 
Spirit must enter your heart himself, that is true. 
Before you obey Christ, the Spirit of Christ must 
come to you. 

Suppose, then, w T e change the thought for a 
moment. What am I to do that I may receive 
the Holy Spirit ? A man can have the Spirit of 
God by consenting to his influence. Yield to him 
and he will stay with you ; consent to his control 
and he will control you ; be willing to be holy and 
he will make you holy. This whole matter of 
bringing the Holy Spirit into the control of our 
life and into the sanctifying of our body and of 



154 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

our spirit may be set in a single word ; and that 
word is obedience. He who will obey God's Spirit 
shall have God's Spirit; shall be guided by him, 
and that forevermore. There is no royal road but 
this. If you want the Spirit of God to control 
you, he will. 

I think that there is nothing told us in the New 
Testament of the method in which we are to bring 
the Holy Spirit to us. God seems to have taken 
that entirely into his own hands. You will find 
these promises repeated : " The Father will send 
the Spirit," " The Spirit will come to you." We 
are dependent. Let God choose the method of his 
own work. He promises that the spirit shall abide 
with us, if we want him ; not as a stranger or a 
guest, or a servant, but as a friend. We are to 
want him, and be sensitive to his presence, and we 
shall have the Spirit of God. 

We can make this a little more distinct, perhaps, 
by recalling the things which the Holy Spirit is to 
do. He has three departments of work: first, he 
is to glorify Christ. The Spirit of God when 
he comes to you will seek to glorify Christ. 
If he points to Christ, you are to look to 
Christ. If he repeats the words of Christ, 
you are to hear them. If he lays down the 
commands of Christ, 3-011 are to receive them. 
He seeks to make Christ great and glorious in 
your eyes ; and if you will let Christ be glorified, 
then the Holy Spirit will intensify the glory for- 



GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 155 

ever. Secondly, he is to guide into all truth. 
If you want to be guided into all truth, then enter 
into all truth. Take the Word of God ; open it 
before you ; let the Spirit of God interpret it ; and 
when you have found a truth, believe it ; when 
you have found a promise, trust it ; when you 
have found a command, do it. Yield to this touch 
which comes up through the words of Scripture, 
and the Holy Spirit will bless the truth to you. 
If he tells you that this is the path to walk in, 
walk in it, and he will lead you to the end. Then 
thirdly, if he is to regenerate us, if he is to bring 
us out of unrighteousness into holiness, let us 
consent to take up the new plans of life ; to take 
out of our life everything that is unholy; to con- 
sent to do right and to be whollv right with God ; 
to consent to have our spirit sanctified and to have 
the earnest of that sanctifying which is to make 
even this vile body a spiritual body like our Lord's. 
It was a very striking remark, an interesting 
thought, of one of my predecessors in this minis- 
tiy. He made a voyage around the world a few 
years ago, and in his leisure he wrote a sermon. 
He tells us how much he was impressed by one 
thing on shipboard ; and that was the man at the 
wheel. Summer and winter, all through the 
voyage, there stood that man. The captain 
might be away ; the crew might be absent ; 
eve^bocly else but this one man and the officer 
of the deck might be asleep, might be at worship, 



156 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

might be engaged in any of the affairs of the ship, 
but there, through day and night, was that con- 
stant man at the wheel. The touch of his hand 
governed the ship, ordered the sails, guarded the 
treasure of merchandise and men. The ship was 
in the control, under the captain, of that man's 
will, of his virtue, of his power, — of that man's 
spirit. Now the remark to which I alluded was 
this: Doctor Adams says, "The suggestions of 
the Holy Spirit are the man at the wheel in our 
souls." I will leave you to think it out. 

I have not forgotten the words which I read as 
the text. This which I have said is an illustra- 
tion, an unfolding of that word of the apostle, 
" Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." If any one 
shall ask how may I grieve the Holy Spirit, I can 
only say by failing to do this which I have de- 
scribed. Neglecting him, that is grieving him. Re- 
fuse to listen, that is grieving him ; refuse to obey, 
that is grieving him. Make him know that you 
do not want him, and after a time he will go his 
way and you will be left to yourself. There is 
but one way to possess him permanently, and that 
is to obey him. There is but one way to grieve 
him, and that is to neglect him. The ship answers 
to her helm, and the will of the man is done. 
The life answers to the Spirit, and the will of the 
Spirit is done. We think his thoughts, we are 
governed by his purposes, and thus we honor him 
and have his power. We leave him, and he leaves 



GRIEVING TILE HOLY SPIRIT. 157 

us. There are other words beside these. St. Paul 
was fond of the tender words. There are differ- 
ent words which describe the same thing. Thus, 
Isaiah speaks of " wearying " God. Do you sup- 
pose you could stand and knock at a man's door 
as long as God has knocked at yours, and not be 
tired of it ? Ezekiel uses anothor word ; he speaks 
of " fretting " God. It is a strange word. You 
know what it means ; to be annoyed and hin- 
dered; not to be struck or denounced, only to be 
worried. We may do this by thinking of the Spirit 
and then forgetting him ; going a little way with 
him, and then turning back ; professing great 
things on Sunday, and on Monday denying them. 
It is an admirable word. It would fret you to 
have your child do so ; and Ezekiel says that God 
is fretted, speaking after the manner of men. 
Then the author of the Epistle to the He- 
brews says, that we may " do despite," malice, 
wrong, cruelty, unto the Spirit of God. Perhaps 
the strongest use of the word which here is trans- 
lated "grieve," is in the account of our Lord's 
suffering in Gethsemane, where it is said that he 
became " exceeding sorrowful." The word for 
" sorrowful " is this word "grieve." I do not like 
to say it, but it seems like making a Gethsemane 
in our hearts, to resist the Holy Spirit. Jesus 
entered into the garden and began to be " exceed- 
ing sorrowful." Do not make the Holy Spirit 
" exceeding sorrowful." God is trying all the 



158 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

time to help 3-011, all the while to teach you and to 
save 3^011, to exalt you, and if 3^ou are persistently 
slighting, wounding, bruising him, until the soul 
becomes the garden with the olive-trees, then is 
the Saviour, the Comforter of men, "exceeding 
sorrowful.'* Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. 
There is another spirit; it is the spirit of the 
world. It is a spirit in men and women ; St. 
Paul called it " the course of this world," and " the 
prince of the power of the air." It works against 
the Spirit of God, and it strives to draw us away 
from Christ and the things of Christ ; and often 
it succeeds. I have seen this spirit of the world 
come to men. The Spirit of God had been trying 
to win them to Christ the Saviour. The3 r were 
almost persuaded, until there came this other 
spirit, touching their thoughts and turning them 
the other way; touching the affections and turning 
them from God. It comes like an angel of light, 
of course ; it has wings which shine in the partial 
light, and it wins men from God ; they turn away 
from Christ ; they think less upon him ; they 
give up their good purposes ; they become more 
and more earthy, until their spiritual nature 
hardens and shrinks. The spirit of the world 
binds men hand and foot. Still the Spirit of God 
will break the bands if men will let him ; but the 
bands are tight and strong, and many a man is 
dragged to his death hy the unholy spirit, the spirit 
of this world, the prince of the power of the air. 



GRIEVING TUB HOLY SPIRIT. 159 

I wish that were the whole ; but sometimes this 
spirit of the world comes even into a heart into 
which the Spirit of Gocl has entered. A man 
makes his confession of Christ and enters the 
Church. He becomes zealous for the good of 
others. He runs well for a time, as St. Paul 
said, and you picture for him a noble career, until 
presently he becomes inconstant ; drops a service 
here and there ; has less and less interest in divine 
things. He says his business requires it, which is 
not true. He says the necessities of this world 
require it, though they never do. The spirit of 
the world tells him, " You cannot afford to be an 
earnest Christian man. Give that over to people 
of leisure. You, with your peculiar temperament, 
were never made to be useful ; with your circum- 
stances it was never expected that you would be a 
witness for Christ. You, with the society you 
move in, with your associates, with, your 
pleasures — how hopeless it is for you to try 
to be a Christian." It is said that it is 
hard to be a Christian in these days. If it is, 
it is not because the Spirit of God is not here, but 
because the spirit of this world is here ; and many 
a Christian heart gives up its faith, casts away its 
joy and its strength, sinks into uselessness, and 
makes itself more and more the centre of itself, 
until the Spirit of God is grieved. I will not say 
how far a man may go in doing despite to the 
Spirit of God and yet attain to heaven at last. 



160 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

But it is so sad that a man should go to heaven 
alone, and that all the path which he treads should 
be filled with a grieving of the Holy Spirit. 

What is the remedy ? Why, simply yielding to 
the Holy Spirit. If he inspires you with any new 
thought, take it; if he tells you there is some- 
thing to be done, do it ; if it is impressed upon 
you that there is something to say, say it ; if he 
comes with prohibition, let the prohibited thing 
alone. Expect nothing but the gentle touch upon 
your heart. If anything interferes with your 
spiritual welfare, leave it. The Holy Spirit means 
to use your work and your play ; to use your 
learning and your life. You are not to cut off 
the right hand unless it offends ; you are not to 
spare it if it does offend you. 

This subject is one of extreme solemnity. But 
I have to leave you, as it is always best for a 
preacher to do, unto the divine guidance ; and I 
do it with this word. If there is borne in upon 
your thought and mind to-day the feeling of 
anything which you ought to do, obey the im- 
pulse. Trust God and move on. The first step 
in the spiritual life is the first step towards the 
eternal glory. It is not difficult to understand 
that sin against the Holy Ghost which hath no 
forgiveness. It is the final parting of the soul 
from God. When God the Father comes, if he is 
rejected, there remain the Son and the Spirit. 
When God the Son comes, if he is rejected, there 



GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT. 161 

remains still the Spirit. Christ may bring a man 
to the Father, the Spirit may bring a man to the 
Son, and so to the Father ; but when one has 
despised the Holy Spirit, there is nothing beyond. 

If I ma}* use such an expression, a man has 
three chances in life. He can make up his life 
under God the Father, If he 'loses that, he may 
perhaps make it up under the Son. If he loses 
that he may perhaps make it up under the Spirit. 
But if he loses the Spirit of God, there is nothing 
afterwards ; no covenant mercy, no encouragement. 
A man has nothing to hope for, if the love of God 
has not held him, and the cross of Christ has not 
won him, and the Spirit of God cannot persuade 
him. 

The unpardonable sin against the light is to put 
out the eyes. The unpardonable sin against food 
is to refuse to eat. The unpardonable sin against 
God is not to let God govern us and save us. 
The unpardonable sin is to throw away the last 
of a man's three chances of life ; to refuse that 
Spirit which, moving in our spirits, would bring 
us to Christ the Saviour, and to God the Father 
of us all. 



O Spirit, beautiful and dread! 

My heart is fit to break 
"With love of all thy tenderness 

For us poor sinners' sake. 



IX. 
TURNING NORTHWARD. 

[a new year's sermon.] 

Scripture Lesson : Phil. Chapter iii. 
Text: Ye have compassed this mountain long enough; 
turn you northward. Deut. ii: 3. 

THIS was Mount Seir. The children of 
Israel had come thus far on their way 
towards the land which they were to possess. They 
tarried around the mountain. It was not Egypt, 
with its bondage, its idolatry, and its despair; 
but it was not the land of promise, with its 
wealth, its opportunity, and its blessings. It 
was not here in the wilderness that they were to 
build the city of God, to raise up the prophets and 
apostles of the world, and to form a State and 
Church which would represent the kingdom of 
God upon the earth. Yet they lingered ; they 
compassed the mountain many days, until at 
last the word of him who had called them out of 
Egypt found them : " Ye have compassed this 
mountain long enough; turn you northward." 

162 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 163 

It comes to us very often in life to need the 
summons which came to these our brethren. We 
are inclined to remain where we are. We become 
engrossed with certain pursuits and pleasures, and 
come to think that life has found its limits and 
henceforth must be little but repetition ; until the 
voice of God comes to us, sometimes speaking in 
our conscience, sometimes through a world which 
calls us to higher duty, sometimes directly by the 
Spirit of God in our spirit, sometimes through the 
providence which tears us away from our place, 
or removes those things which have detained us. 
Thus are we made to take up again the way and 
the work of life that we may finish that whereunto 
we are created. There are two movements in this 
world. They have been aptly described as the 
circular and the onward movement. The one is 
that movement by which a man goes the round of 
his daily duties from week to week, and from year 
to year, repeating over and over those things 
which it is well for him to do, yet making no 
advance. There is another movement wherein a 
man, fulfilling the course of his ordinary duties, 
still makes an advance, going farther and farther 
from the place where he started and towards that 
which is to be the crown and reward and rest of 
his life. A very obvious illustration is in the 
motion of the earth, with its circular movement 
upon its axis, yet with that which is its larger 
movement by which it pushes on continually^ day 



164 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

by day, in a larger orbit around the point which 
is the centre of its life. Or,' if this be too con- 
tracted an illustration, this whole system to 
which we belong preserves its circular movement ; 
it compasses the mountain, yet all the while, 
through centuries which are unnumbered, it is 
pressing on its way around some remote sun 
which no man's eyes have ever yet beheld, 
in an orbit which only the cycles of the ages 
can complete. Our life is to be after this 
double pattern. We are to repeat those things 
which eaclt day demands; yet, as we do them, we 
are to press our way around some distant centre 
in an endless course. There are certain things 
which must be done day after day, as long as we 
live. The necessities of life are continually recur- 
ring and with very little change ; and there comes 
to us a great economy of time because we acquire 
great facility in execution, through this continual 
repetition, until they demand very little thought, 
and to do them becomes almost a second nature, 
or the instinctive work of life. The great danger 
is not that we shall neglect these things, though 
possibly we need a word of admonition at that 
point, and to be reminded that we are not to 
despise the things which are small, the common 
daily duties, those things without which life would 
be out of joint, and nothing great could be accom- 
plished. The very monotony of life marks the 
stability of purpose and method which we have 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 165 

learned of God. But the greater danger is, that 
we shall mistake this continual movement for an 
advance, and shall think that we are doing all 
which really is required of us, and all that we can 
do for ourselves, if we are continually busy. If 
all the while we are doing something, and that 
something is a useful thing, we may assume that 
we are fulfilling the great end of life. So we 
shall settle down into that which is simple and 
monotonous, and never advance, however much 
the years may come within our reach ; reading as 
we have read, feeling as we have felt, going 
through life with the same design, and filling up 
the life that comes to us out of the same methods 
with the life that has passed from us. 

I think we hear to-day, as the year closes, the 
voice of God speaking to us, not as the children 
of Israel, not as any special men and women in 
any special time, but speaking that which men all 
the ages through have needed to hear ; the sum- 
mons of God to something more, bidding us press 
on to that which is still beyond us, if so be we 
may make life greater than it is. It is unques- 
tionably true that we have trodden the rounds of 
another twelvemonth, every one of us. It is cer- 
tainly true that we have slept and waked, we have 
been eating and drinking, we have gone forth to 
our work in the morning, and we have come home 
at night, we have filled up the months, and we 
think we have been very much engaged. It is a 



1GG CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

doubtful matter, at the best, whether we have 
simply been treading round and round in the same 
little circle, or whether we have succeeded in tak- 
ing one step beyond our past. This is the last 
day of the year — of what year? This year of 
grace which we call 1882. Is it also the last day 
of 1881, 1880, 1879, 1859? Is it the same old end- 
ing of a year which finds us still tracing the same 
circle? If we are not wiser than we were a year 
ago, if we are not stronger for God and ourselves, 
this is not the close of 1882 much more than it is 
the close of 1881, or 1880 ; and so far as advance 
and profit is concerned, we might almost as well 
have slept through the months, to have been 
aroused by the new-year's bell, which tells that 
the train is pushing on from another station along 
the same dull track. It is such a different thing 
to exist and to breathe, and to reckon the days by 
the calendar, and to "grow old/ ' as we say, from 
what it is to grow better and stronger, to make 
the world feel your presence, and to win the favor 
of Heaven, that it comes as a word of benediction 
while it is a word of summons to our spirits: "Ye 
have compassed this mountain long enough ; you 
have done these things long enough; you have 
had these methods, and hopes, and desires long 
enough ; you are too old to keep them ; life is too 
great for you to maintain them ; turn you north- 
ward into something better than you have done, 
and into something greater than you are." 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 167 

If I may indicate one or two points in which 
this advance may be made, merely touching them, 
it is that we may see how it is possible to enlarge 
our life. First, in the way of knowledge. We 
ought, in this coming year — for it is of the year 
to come, and not of the year that has gone, that 
I speak — to enlarge our knowledge. We 
shall be reading : we ought to read better books, 
a higher grade of books ; as our children will pass 
on to books which are more advanced, so ought 
we who are older. There are books which will task 
the energies of any one of us. We ought to grow 
wiser by that which we read. If it is simply read- 
ing the paper which is no more to-day than it was 
yesterday ; if it is reading the current gossip which 
does not change in character from year to year, if 
it is not taking hold of something which will en- 
large the substance of our knowledge, then we 
shall read to veiy little purpose. We enlarge our 
knowledge, too, by talking with men. We ought 
to associate with better men, if we can, than those 
who have surrounded us. We certainly can asso- 
ciate with the wisest men, and when they are at 
their best, if we will take their books, if we will 
take the influence of their lives as it comes to us 
through their works. Out of this will come in 
that which shall strengthen our own knowledge, 
enlarge our own minds. To think how many good 
men are waiting for us if we will break from 
frivolous companions ; to think how many grand 



168 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

books are waiting patiently for us that we may 
take them up and take their wisdom into us ; this 
should make us feel that there is something to be 
learned, and something which we ought to learn. 

But passing from knowledge to work, we can 
enlarge our work. Very likely we can enlarge our 
common work ; enlarge the volume of it. It is 
almost certain that we can enlarge the character 
of it, taking on some things which are higher, and 
in advance of those which we have done. We 
can enlarge our charitable work as it reaches out 
to bless the world, if we have gained that secret 
of all true living, that we are in the world and 
taught of God that we may bless the world ; and 
that the gains of life come to us not to be kept, 
but to be shared with others. 

Again, take the matter of character. We can 
keep the character we have to-day, which is reason- 
ably honest, and amiable, and pleasant, which 
does not very much reproach us, or draw to us the 
reproach of others ; or we can strengthen that 
character. We can enlarge our conscience, we 
can broaden oar reason, we can get a stronger and 
fuller grasp upon truth, we can get a higher and 
holier sense of duty, we can get hold of the very 
meaning of life, we can ask and answer the pro- 
found inquiries, " Why am I here ? Why has God 
in his mercy kept me out of my grave for an- 
other year ? Why do I look with bold eyes down 
these opening months ? " We can enlarge 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 109 

the purposes of life, the motives which shall con- 
trol life. We can enlarge the desire of life ; that 
which shall give its support and its charac- 
ter to the very soul and heart which lies behind 
that which we are doing before men. Thus our 
manhood shall grow by the continual accession of 
truth, and the continual performance of duty. 

Finally, we can enlarge our religion, on the side 
of its worship and on the side of its work. It is 
not enough to tread the round of Sabbaths and to 
come and go through the gates of the sanctuary; 
it is not enough to have stated hours of prayer 
and holy communion, and to be content with these. 
We can enlarge religious experience until it is 
deeper and broader. We can enlarge religious 
work until it tells more for good upon the world. 
Prayer should be to us what it has never been, and 
the Bible more than it ever has been; these varied 
means of grace, which are the summons to duty, 
should give to us that largeness of spirit and that 
greatness of religious accomplishment which shall 
make us more like the Son of God and the 
Saviour of men. We ought to outgrow that 
weakness which makes our religion chiefly regard 
ourselves. That momentous question which is 
asked so often, and for which sometimes we claim 
merit, was the question of a frightened Pagan. We 
ought to have outgrown it. There is no one of us 
who should not have left it behind him years ago : 
" What must I do to be saved ? " Have we not 



170 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

answered that, and taken the answer practically 
into our lives ? That question should be changed 
into the affirmation of the Son of God, which 
reaches beyond the question which looks to our 
own salvation, and teaches the divine motive of 
all worthy living, " Father, I have glorified thee 
upon the earth : I have finished the work which 
thou gavest me to do." 

It is evident that in these four respects which I 
have named, we can gain accessions of that which 
is valuable to us without making any advance. 
Thus, we can enlarge our knowledge without 
enlarging our manhood. We may be just as 
selfish after we have doubled our learning as we 
were before ; and unless we grow less selfish, we 
do not grow more manly. Manhood is not high 
learning ; the tree of knowledge never has been, 
and never can be, the tree of life. He who thinks 
he is fulfilling his life by increasing his knowledge, 
has made the fearful mistake of supposing that 
the value of things is in their bulk. The value of 
things is in their character, not their size. So, 
passing from knowledge into work, we still may 
enlarge our work without growing any greater or 
making any advance. That work may still keep 
its old centre, the self. I may increase my busi- 
ness because I shall get more profit , I may 
increase my benevolence because it ministers more 
to my pleasure. Thus I have enlarged my life, 
but I have not enlarged myself; I have moved no 



TURNING XORTIIWAKD. 171 

nearer to God. Indeed, it is possible for benevo- 
lence itself to make us selfish, centring our 
thoughts more on ourselves, until we admire that 
which we are doing, when we should be looking 
up to Him who is the giver of all grace. It is the 
same with character itself. We nuiy get a knowl- 
edge of truth •, we may nourish our conscience and 
our virtuous life, and still not break with that 
centre -, still it may be all for ourselves. To say, " I 
must be better in order that I may be happier," is 
as selfish as to say, " I must be richer in order to 
be happier." Character must look on beyond it- 
self; I must advance, breaking with this little 
circle, or I have not grown much in character. It 
is very much the same, strange as it may seem, 
even with religion. The centre of my religion 
may still be my heart and my happiness •, and as 
long as I keep it there I have not made any great 
advance. Indeed, I may pray more, " Lord bless 
me;" I may learn to emphasize the "me'," I 
may grow willing even to repeat the " me " oftener 
than I have ; and my prayer be as selfish as it was 
before, and I not a better man. It is when I can 
break with this, and look to something beyond, 
getting another centre for this widening circumfer- 
ence of my life, that I have made an advance. 

Thus the call of God here by his prophet to-day 
is, " Turn you northward. You have compassed 
this mountain long enough; you have stopped 
on these things which you are doing and this way 



172 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

of doing things long enough ; j^ou have had this 
measure of experience long enough; you have 
been as good as you are quite long enough. Now 
turn northward." Well, brethren, where is north- 
ward ? It is an interesting fact, physically, that 
northward is always up — at least, in all our rep- 
resentations of it — from the time the boy looks 
to find the north upon his map and finds it at the 
top of the map, to the time when the man looks 
up into the heavens for the North Star. Upward, 
God ward ; that is north. The only north is where 
the immovable throne of God stands. They tell us 
that the star which we call the North Star is contin- 
ually changing, and that the time is coming when 
the mariner must take another star. The un- 
changing star which, marks the true north is the 
star which stands over the place where He is 
enthroned who was the little child beneath the 
star which led the wise men to his manger. 

It is a call of wonderful power, this which tells us 
that we may go on to something greater than we 
are. We are to do this ; we are to go on nearer to 
God — nearer to God in our thought, in our pur- 
pose, in our life. Or, if that seems too general, we 
are to go on to that which God has designed for 
us. It is not very much to say, but it is a stupen- 
dous thing to do. We are to fill up the measure of 
manhood ; not to be gods, not to be angels, but to 
be men; to do that which we were made to do, 
the whole of it; to know all that we can know, to 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 173 

do all that we can do, to be all that we can be, 
going on until we attain unto the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of the Christ. 

In what way does this thought appeal to us this 
morning? If you will tell me, 1 will tell you how 
old you are. If this thought of being a great deal 
more than you are oppresses you, then you are 
old, no matter what the family record may saj\ 
If you have no thought of going on beyond where 
you are to-day, then the years are upon you. If, 
on the other hand, you are receiving with gratifi- 
cation the thought that you can be more ; if you 
feel stirred by it ; if alread}^ in the midst of this 
service }~ou find a new purpose coming up ; — "I 
will be more, I will do more in the year to come," 
your hair may be gray, but you are a young man. 
The only measure of age is heart, and the measure 
of heart is hope. When hope is dead, a man is 
old; when hope is alive, a man is young. So 
taught the prophet when he said, " They that 
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength -, 
they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they 
shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and 
not faint." There is something, if we are young 
enough for it, which is quickening, ennobling, stim- 
ulating, and most pleasant to us in this thought. 
We feel the power of it ; we are moved to greater 
action. There is perhaps no great movement on 
life which is not toward some great ideal, or under 
some large influence. To keep the store this .year 



174 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

as we did the last is too petty a thing for any 
man's ambition. To go through the rounds of 
professional life this year as last, is a dull thing for 
anybody to do. To read the papers this year as 
last ; to read the same books, or the same kind of 
books, over and over ; to go and come among 
the same associates, having the same grade of con- 
versation ; and to be, when another year ends, un- 
certain whether it is the end of that year, or the 
last year, it is dry and hard. No wonder a man 
says, " Life is vanity of vanities, and what is the 
use of living ? " No wonder men say sometimes 
under their breath, " I wish I was dead." What 
is there to live for when there is no hope, and 
where is the hope if it is not in the thought of being 
more to-morrow than we are to-day ? 

The king asked the artist who had taught him to 
play, and Ole Bull answered, " The mountains of 
Norway, your Majesty." The mountains of 
Norway poured their spirit into his willing spirit ; 
the voices of Norway, rolling from its cliffs and 
sounding from its valleys, whispering in its pines, 
and murmuring in its seas, ran sounding and thrill- 
ing along the strings he touched, until the heart of 
the world answered to his heart. Who teaches a 
man to be great? A great thought of God. 
What makes him diligent in service? I ask a 
man, and he answers: A great thought of charac- 
ter taught me how much I can be ; a magnificent 
thought of service showed me how much I can do» 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 175 

I was waked to it; I was summoned by it; I 
heard it in God's providence ; I listened to it in 
God's house ; that I might break with myself, — 
break the very centre of my life ; that I might push 
on to higher employments and greater accomplish- 
ments ; that I might have a more profound and 
blessed experience. When I heard God say how 
great I might be, and how great things I might do 
for him ; how large a manhood I might fulfil and 
how much of divinity I might possess, then the 
" mountains of Norway " taught me to live, and I 
live in the life that evermore grows into the 
stature of the divine fulness. It was thus that 
St. Paul became great. It was a continual en- 
largement of his life. Not content with treading 
the streets of Tarsus, from school to school, he 
pressed his way to Jerusalem ; not satisfied with 
the added schools of Jerusalem, or to wander 
through the intricacies and subtilties of Hebrew 
jurisprudence, he pressed on his way still, keeping 
all of good which he had learned, until he heard 
God's voice before the gate of Damascus : " O, 
Saul, Saul, thou hast trodden this petty round long 
enough ; turn northward ; " and he went out to 
that magnificent career. It was so with Moses. 
After his long years in Pharaoh's palace, going 
round within the halls, he pressed on into the wil- 
derness; he was forty years in the wilderness 
keeping sheep, until at last the voice of God came 
to him, speaking out of the bush that burned and 



176 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

was not consumed, " Thou hast compassed this 
mountain long enough, turn northward j " and he 
went down to become one of the leading statesmen 
of the world. It was so with our Lord's disciples ; 
fishermen from their youth, fishing this year quite 
as well as last, next year as well as this, until the 
voice of the Lord found them : " Simon, son of 
Jonas, John, James, Andrew, Thomas — you have 
compassed the Sea of Galilee with jout boats long 
enough: turn northward, follow me and I will 
make you fishers." — "But, Lord, we are already 
fishermen ; we do not think we can learn skill in 
fishing from a carpenter." " Follow me, and I 
will make you fishers of men ; turn northward, 
beyond the Sea of Galilee, beyond the fish that 
swim in their multitudes through its depths, and 
you shall gather men." 

This is the summons of Christ to us. The 
beginning of it must be as we hear his voice, and 
answer to it — Christ's voice, calling and inspiring 
us for higher and holier things. If any one asks 
" What am I to do ? " there is always but one 
answer ; " You are to "begin, and to begin as you 
ought to begin." One great reason why we never 
advance wisely, is because we never begin wisely. 

Begin with God ; give yourself to God here, to 
Christ here. " Lord, I take thee," that is right. 
" I take thee for my Saviour," that is one thing 
never to be given up. " I take thee for my 
Master," — that is an endless beginning; then 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 177 

in obedience to him, press on. "I love him, I 
serve him, I follow where he leads me." It is 
thus that we go on to a high and holy living, and 
to the eternal reward. 

There are one or two thoughts touching this 
life that we are living which I should like to add to 
what I have already said. We need to-day, per- 
haps we need every day, to get a juster view of 
life. We are very familiar with it, and yet how 
little we know about it. It is such a simple thing 
to live, to keep going and coming, and coming and 
going. More rational, intelligent views of life 
will certainly very greatly change our lives. We 
ought to look upon life as full of opportunity. 
We say we are entering upon a new year, and a 
new year is a great thing. I know how brief a 
year seems as we look back upon it ; but there is 
a great deal of time in a year. It is most superfi- 
cial to say that a year is a very small piece of life ; 
it is a large piece of life. Three hundred days and 
more-, three hundred days wherein we can be mak- 
ing our will stronger for God ; three hundred days 
in which we can be doing good in the world ; serv- 
ing Christ, loving Christ ; three hundred days with 
their hours over God's word, in the closet and in 
the sanctuary ; three hundred days with their 
Sabbaths for the church, and the ministry and the 
work of the church ! Why, it is a grand thing, a 
sublime thing to have so much time. Time is to 
be regarded as opportunity ; not as something 



178 CAMBRIDGE SEEMONS. 

which we are to receive simply as a matter with 
which we have nothing to do, but to let it come to 
us as the wind comes blowing about us. We are 
to take it rather as the wind comes to the sailor 
who finds he has a use for it ; who cares very much 
whether the wind blows or not, and which way it 
blows. They tell us sometimes that life is like 
a stream. It seems a very apt comparison, these 
years are passing on so rapidly. But we are not to 
stand upon the bank of this stream and look out 
upon it, and think of the waves, and the rapidity 
of the current, and whither the waters are hurry- 
ing so fast. We are to feel that we are to enter 
upon this stream and to use it. We are not to be 
taken up by it, as the stream takes up the tree which 
has fallen upon its bank and carries it on whither- 
soever it will. We are not to go upon it as the 
raft goes, a few timbers hastily fastened together 
to last a few days until something else shall be 
found, or we shall strike some island beyond. We 
are not to go upon it as the boat goes, simply to 
be drifted down as the tide runs ; nor as the ferry- 
boat, which sails equally well in all directions, and, 
with a continual movement, never makes much of 
a voyage. I think we are rather to go as the ship 
goes, which looses from its moorings and turns its 
prow towards the distant port, with a strong hand 
at the helm, the chart spread out and the compass 
lighted day and night, while it seeks boldly its 
way across the wide seas to its appointed haven. 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 179 

They tell us that life is a vapor. So it is. 
That means more than it did when St. James 
wrote the word. Almost the mightiest force in the 
world to-day is vapor. Condense it, heat it, and 
it makes the ship fly from shore to shore. Put it 
in its place, and it turns the ponderous machinery 
of the factory and clothes the land. Life is 
vapor; thin, transparent; passing away into the 
clouds. The good man's life is vapor held, 
heated, used ; made a power that makes the world 
move. The value of life is to be found in what we 
do with it. As I have intimated already, the 
measure of life is in that which we do in life. 
There is nothing that is more futile and deceptive 
than the attempt to measure life by years. It was 
one of the profound remarks of a wise man, that 
" Time is not the measure of life, but life is the 
measure of time." He taught the students how 
to make the sun stand still by putting the work of 
two days into one. " By crowding the year with 
generous purposes, virtuous efforts and noble sac- 
rifices." The only hours of the last year which 
are of much account are those in which we 
advanced ; the moments in which we moved for- 
ward ; the days in which we learned something ; 
the days in which you did something, are the real 
time. The rest has vanished like the morning 
cloud. 

Do I ask, then, that there may come to us a 
higher and a holier life, and that there may be 



180 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

taken upon us more work and better work? I 
know the response at once ; that we are over- 
worked already. The answer is too easily made. 
It is somewhat significant that the men who talk 
the most about our overwork, do not appear to be 
very much overworked themselves. It is the 
overwork of somebody else, usually, which they 
are talking about. It is too often the case that 
the people who are afraid of too much work are 
those who are fond of their beds. I do not find 
the best working men of our day complaining that 
there is too much to do, and that men are wearing 
out too fast. They believe that God gives a man 
strength for duty, and that when a man can no 
longer work, he has no longer any need to live. 
God gives us what we can do, and we are to take 
it and do it. Still, are we not very busy, are we 
not engaged every moment, so that there seems no 
room to put in anything else? Very likely; I 
think it is so with most of us ; but I do not see 
that this has much to do with the question before 
us. Suppose we do not enlarge the volume of our 
work, but only the character of it. Can you not 
drop some things which you are doing and take 
on better things ? St. Paul said, " When I was a 
child, I thought as a child, I spake as a child ;" but 
when he became a man, he found that he had not 
room enough for childish things and manly things 
too, and he gave up childish things, and took on 
those which suited his years. When he was to 



TURNING NORTHWARD. 181 

run a race, he forgot the things which were behind ; 
he put off the things that troubled and beset him ; 
not because his raiment was not good, but because 
he could not run with it. I have no doubt that 
every one of us is carrying many things which are 
taking up his time, but which he might well 
enough let alone, because he has outgrown them. 
What are the engrossing demands of my life, is a 
simple question for every one to ask. Are there 
not things which have taken hours of the last 
year for which we are too old, which we ought to 
have left behind us while we turned to something 
better ; things which somebody else who was 
younger, who had not been taught of God so 
long, could do just as well ? I think that it is so, 
and I believe that we can be continually dropping 
the easier and the smaller things to our children, 
to young men and to young women, while we 
take up those which are more fitting our years, 
and go on and do them steadfastly to the end. 
The glory of our life will be just there ; it is when 
we do something we have never done before, and 
something better than we have done before, that 
we are making an advance. 

It was asked concerning a great artist once, 
" Wherein is it that he excels ? " The reply was, 
" He begins where other people end." We cannot 
all do that, for there are some men who never seem 
to end their advance. But every man can begin 
where he himself had ended. We can begin where 



182 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

we have already stopped. There is something more 
which we can do for the world ; something more 
for God; something more for our own life. It 
may require giving up some things which are tak- 
ing our time; but our vows to the Church, and our 
duties in the Church, and our duties to God and 
to the world, we can meet by laying aside the 
poorer things for the better ones ; by compassing 
the mountain no longer ; by taking up that which 
is real and pressing our way forward. 

This is my greeting to-day. Once again do I 
wish you sincerely a " Happy New Year." Per- 
haps we have compassed these words long enough. 
Let me put my wish into other words ; and they 
shall be two sentences from two great men. The 
one speaks the word of God out of the Old 
Scriptures, and the other out of the New. This, 
brethren beloved, is my wish for the New Year : 

" Ye have compassed this mountain long 
enough ; turn you northward." 

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those 
things which are above." 



X. 

WHAT MUST I DO? 



Scripture Lesson : Acts viii : 26-40. 

Text : What must I do to be saved ? Acts xvi : 30. 

IT is a question of interest to us all. It con- 
cerns any who are not saved ; it concerns all 
who are saved, because it is our duty to save 
others. The question asked in a prison has 
been repeated through the world. The answer 
joined to it has gained nothing, lost nothing, 
as the years have passed by, and it has done 
its work of mercy, "blessing him who gives 
and him who takes." There is but one answer to 
the question. The apostle and his companion had 
been pursuing their work in Philippi, that Mace- 
donian, Grecian, Roman city. They had stirred 
up the anger of the people and the avarice of 
those who were gaining gold by an unlawful ser- 
vice. They had been seized by the mob, dragged 
to the market-place and delivered to the mag- 
istrates, who stripped them of their robes, beat 
them with rods, and committed them to the 

183 



184 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

care of the jailer who thrust them into the inner 
prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. At 
midnight they prayed and sang their praises unto 
God. They sang, as it were, a " new song ; " it 
was new to them, for this was a new experience. 
They sang one of the songs in the night. The 
book of Psalms, with which they were familiar 
from their childhood, abounds in hymns which would 
be appropriate at such a time. We are at a loss 
to know what they selected for their worship and 
prayer. It may be that they sang the song of 
Asaph, as it is in the seventy-ninth Psalm : " Let 
the sighing of the prisoner come before thee ; ac- 
cording to the greatness of thy power preserve 
thou those who are appointed to die." The pris- 
oners were hearing them, and the Lord heard them ; 
and the prison walls were shaken and the doors 
opened ; every man's bands were loosed ; and the 
keeper awoke and drew his sword, and would have 
killed himself had not the apostle preserved his 
life ; when the man, calling for lights, plunged into 
the darkness which had been bright enough for 
better men, and, falling at the feet of his captives, 
said, " Lords, what must I do to be saved? " " Be- 
lieve on the Lord," answered St. Paul, " and thou 
shaft be saved." And he believed and committed 
himself to God's mercy ; he listened to the word 
of the apostle ; he was baptized ; he washed the 
stripes of his prisoners ; "he set meat before them, 
and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." 



WHA T MUST I BO? 185 

It was a famous place. On the broad plains of 
Philippi had been fought the battle upon whose 
issue hung the empire of the world. There Bru- 
tus and Cassius had sought to restore the common- 
wealth, building it on the bleeding corse of Caesar. 
There the dream of a republic had ended, and 
Roman liberty had itself been slain. It is not 
strange that in that defeat, that destruction of all 
his hopes, the last of the Romans killed himself by 
the hand of his freedman, and that Brutus fell on 
Strato's sword. The evil genius of Brutus, which 
had promised aforetime to meet him at Philippi, 
had met him there, and there had come the final 
destruction of his hope. The only remedy for 
despair was suicide. It is not strange that this 
jailer, familiar with this remedy of greater men in 
their desperation, sought through the gate which 
it opened deliverance from the terrors which envi- 
roned him. But a better genius than that of Bru- 
tus was there. The apostle of Christ was there ; 
the Spirit of God was there, in the heart of the 
apostle, in the heart of the jailer ; and it meant 
not death, but life : not defeat, but victory. His 
character and his hope were erected into the 
stately fabric of everlasting life. 

We are impressed here with the temperate man- 
ner of the greatest of men; with the calmness of 
his demeanor ; with the masterful spirit which is 
in him. This is the same man who, a little later, 
kept a frightened ship's crew in subjection, and 



186 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

controlled the soldiers who were carrying him to 
his death. This man, with the prison doors 
opened and the prisoners startled and ready to flee, 
in all the tumult of that midnight hour held them, 
we may believe, by the dignity of his presence, by 
the authority of his voice, by the supremacy of 
his will, asserting that manhood, which, though 
cast down, is not destroyed, and when thrown 
into perplexity never sinks into despair ; wearing 
that royalty which nothing can take away ; the 
royalty wherewith he had been crowned by Him 
who makes men kings and priests. 

Not all the water in the rough rude sea, 
Can wash the balm from an annointed king. 

This question of the jailer was admirably put. 
We can hardly imagine the various constituents 
which must enter into such an inquiry better 
arranged than in these words which were driven 
from him in the excitement of that hour. He had 
brought the question to the right place. He 
might have searched the world over and never 
found a man to whom the question could be so 
fittingly addressed as it came from the heart 
which asked it to the heart which could answer it. 
Plow common experiences bring us to a level ! 
What matter what one's age, or estate, or condi- 
tion in life, in a sinking ship, in a burning house, a 
shattered prison ; in the presence of God, Jehovah 
of hosts ! It was but seventeen years before, 
when the man who heard this question, himself 



WHAT MUST I DO? 187 

affrighted, thrown to the ground, confronted with 
the Lord who stood before this jailer, uttered the 
same inquiry. What Saul of Tarsus had asked at 
the gate of Damascus, this jailer asked within the 
prison of Philippi. What the Lord had answered 
to Saul of Tarsus, the Lord answered to the jailer ; 
and he who had spoken to the apostle, gave him 
the grace to repeat the answer which needed no 
enlargement, which falls with all its power from 
human lips, because it is the word of the Christ, 
and not the man. This man was able to repeat 
that which had come to him, and to point his 
brother, his fellow-sinner, to the redemption which 
had availed for him, and which, through the years 
since, he had been ministering unto others, as he 
was to do through the years to come, until he laid 
his head upon the block. It is one of the instruc- 
tive coincidences of Holy Scripture, that a ques- 
tion which Saul of Tarsus had asked so long 
before, and whose answer he had received and 
acted upon ever afterwards, should be asked of 
him by this Pagan, and should be answered by him 
as it was answered to him, " an Hebrew of the 
Hebrews." There is but one answer. He who would 
be saved must believe on the Lord Jesus -Christ. 
The eternities shall roll away, but that direction 
will remain ; and no man shall be saved, but by 
the grace of God which is in Jesus Christ his Son. 
Who to-day intrusts himself to it, to-day is saved. 
But the question itself, if we separate it word 



188 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. . 

from word, brings together those elements which 
should enter into the inquiry: "What must I 
do ; " not these prisoners, not the rulers, not the 
emperor ; " what must I do ?" One has not come 
seriously to look at any duty until he stands alone 
with God. I have not seen my duty until I have 
seen it as my dut} T , and do not know other men 
in it. " What must I do ? " Not what should I 
prefer to do ; but what is it necessary that I should 
do ? Among the divine and everlasting truths of 
God which move on forever, what is the way to 
which I must conform my life, if I would be 
saved ? " What must I clo ? " Not, in what way 
may I drift into life ? Not, how long may I live 
before, like a broken ship thrown upon the waves, 
I am dashed upon some island in the sea ? Not, 
when shall the mercy of God, without any cov- 
enant, through the slow wearing on of the ages, 
move me into salvation ? What must I do in 
order that I maybe saved ? "What must I do to be 
saved ?"Not, to save myself, but to be saved; to 
come into that condition in which I shall be saved 
by another, — I, who cannot save myself. 

With what force this man asks this question. 
It seems a strange inquiry to come from such a 
man, at such a time, with such surroundings. It 
is very plain that he did not mean, " What shall 
I do to be saved from this terror, this present 
peril ? " He knew the rigor of Roman law. 
But surely he could not feel himself to blame 



WHAT MUST I BO? 189 

because there had been an earthquake shaking the 
prison. He could not accuse himself of deserting 
his trust, for his prisoners were all there. If there 
were anything to result from that excitement it 
would seem to be his advancement. A jailer who, 
under those circumstances, could keep his prison- 
ers safe, and the next morning show them to the 
authorities, might expect promotion under the 
government, if promotion follows merit. But he 
had seen God and was troubled ; what should he 
do? 

This word salvation had become familiar in 
Philippi. A damsel, filled with a spirit of divina- 
tion, day by day had followed Paul and Silas as 
they went to prayer, and cried out after them 
with the spirit of a prophetess, " These men are 
the servants of the most high God, which show 
unto us the way of salvation, and this did she 
many days." Day after day, "salvation," "salva- 
tion ; " " which show unto us the way of salvation," 
went ringing along the streets of Philippi until 
St. Paul commanded the spirit to come out of her. 
Then her masters caused her deliverers to be 
beaten and imprisoned. It may be that this man 
had heard the frenzied girl. He knew what she 
had said. He saw the men whom she fol- 
lowed, and her masters accused, rescued by their 
God, when he had made their feet fast in the 
stocks. Salvation as a word had become familiar 
to him. In the presence of God it became a neces- 



190 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

sity as a fact. We are not to think of this man 
as rough and rude beyond his fellows. Doubtless 
he was of good repute. He would not have been 
intrusted with so responsible a position as this, in 
a place of so great account, had he not been a man 
of intelligence and honesty and ability. He had 
not beaten Paul and Silas ; he had thrust them 
into the inner prison because he was so commanded. 
There is no sign of any harshness on his part to- 
wards them, save as he obeyed the orders of his 
superiors. What is a man to do when the court 
delivers a prisoner to his keeping, but to obey the 
behest of the court. May we not think, too, that 
this man, intelligent as he was, who seems, as he 
appears at last as the head of a family, to have 
had those gentler qualities which commend our 
common human nature, perhaps had the thought 
of God in his mind before ? There has been found 
now and then — sad that it has been so seldom — 
a man among the heathen in whom God has 
kept his witness; who has the thought of 
God, who has the desire for a better life, 
who would fain be at peace with him who 
rules in the armies of heaven and among the 
inhabitants of the earth. There is no intima- 
tion that this was such a man. But it is 
clear that he knew that the great God was there 
in the prison. He had come to rescue his men. 
What should the jailer do in the presence of one 
at whose tread the stones rattled in the wall ? 



WIIA T MUST I BO? 191 

Plainly there was but one thing for him to do, and 
that was what the apostles pointed out to him. 
" What must I do to be saved " from this God Avho 
is here ; this God of power, in whose hands I am ? 
You are reminded of that incident in St. Peter's 
life when, brought face to face with the power of 
God, and startled by the miracle of Christ, feeling 
his own unworthiness, afraid to stand in such a 
presence, he cried, " Depart from me ; for I am a 
sinful man, O Lord." "For he was astonished, 
and all that were with him." This man was 
amazed, and affrighted ; he saw God and his might. 
God was there, shaking the very foundations of 
his prison, and taking his prisoners out of his 
hand. He was afraid ; afraid in the presence of the 
Almighty, whose breath might remove him from 
the earth. 

Now, what answer must the apostle give to 
a question like this ? " What shall I do that I 
may be saved and brought into the favor of God 
who is here? " There is but one answer. If this 
man is to be saved, he must in some way become 
right with God. He must submit his life to God, 
and enter the company of those who obey 
him and on whom his approval rests and abides 
forever. The apostle summoned him to God. 
Let us mark the simplicity of that which the 
apostle said. He called the man to the obedience 
of God. We often discuss this question of salva- 
tion on side issues, and oftentimes very blindly. 



192 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

We reason as if God is there, with his justice 
and law, and Christ is here with his redemption ; 
so that if one has gone away from God and dis- 
obeyed him, he must find the mercy of Christ and 
trust himself to that. But where are righteous- 
ness and piety on this plan ? The apostle called 
this man back to God himself. He must submit 
to God and take up his duty from the hands 
of God. There is no salvation without that. But 
if he comes to God, in what attitude shall he find 
him ? Must he come to the law-giver ? But he 
had broken the commands. Must he come to a 
God who is simply almighty ? But that power 
was likely to destroy him. If he found favor with 
God at all, it must be because God was merciful 
towards him. God in mercy is the God whom he 
must find. First he must find God; secondly, 
he must find God in mercy, willing to forgive and 
to restore ; willing to take him into his service 
again ; and thirdly, having found God in mercy, 
he must take up the commands of God and go 
steadfastly and patiently on, doing the will of 
God. 

May I repeat these three things ? This man, if 
he is to be saved, must come to God, and give 
himself to him. Secondly, he must come to God 
as he is in mercy ; and thirdly, he must come 
to God in mercy to render to him the obedience 
and devotion of his life. Why, then, did the 
apostle say, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ? " 



WHAT MUST I DO? 193 

Because the Lord Jesus Christ is the mercy of 
God. The name of God's mercy on the earth is 
Christ. That fine line of Faber may come to 
your mind : 

Jesus, God's love, is crucified. 

This is mere}'. God's love beyond the heavens 
can do nothing for us unless it reaches where we 
are ; and when God's love reaches where we are it 
is mercy; and God's mercy where we are is named 
Jesus Christ, his Son. You find the mercy when 
you find him ; you find him when you find the 
mercy. 

Let us then feel that this answers the question ; 
that we come into the mercy of God as it is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord ; and then, having come 
into the mercy, we take our duty from Christ's 
lips and go on to follow him to the end. 

Dropping all that is local and temporal, passing 
away from Philippi and its prison which has- 
become the school for so many penitent hearts, we 
will notice these things, which have no limitation 
of time or of place, but which come in all their 
reality to us to-day. What must a man do to 
be saved ? Suffer me to answer it once more as I 
have already. A man to be saved, must come into 
the approval of God. When God says you are 
right, then you are saved ; as long as God says 
you are wrong, you are lost. When God's mercy 



194 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

covers you, you are saved ; when you are without 
that mercy, you are lost. When you are doing 
God's will, you are saved ; when it is not the law 
of your life to do God's will, you are lost. There 
is no salvation for a man except in doing the will 
of God ; and " he that doeth the will of God 
abide th forever." This is the essential thing. 

When the thought is borne in upon us, as it 
often is, that there must be something clone for our 
salvation, there are three courses which we may 
take. The first course, and perhaps the rarer, is 
despair. " There is no hope, no ; for I have loved 
strangers, and after them will I go." One may 
say, " I have done wrong and there is no forgive- 
ness for me ; I am surrounded by the world, I am 
entangled in its toils ; there is no help for me." I 
think that is not very common. A second course, 
much more common, perhaps more perilous, is to 
attempt, by some sort of compromise, to effect that 
which can only be effected by obedience. This 
method is old. Mr. Froude says, that when relig- 
ion had subsided to an opinion at Rome, the peo- 
ple built more elegant temples than ever, and 
devoted themselves more scrupulously to the 
ceremonial. It has been quite a common experi- 
ence, that, when faith has declined, a regard for 
the forms of religion, and for the external duties 
which it enjoins, has increased; men who have 
broken with God and will not return to him, take 
up, as a compromise, the doing of certain things 



WHAT MUST I DO ? 195 

which all acknowledge to be excellent, in the hope 
that this may be accepted in the place of obedi- 
ence. That is, when I owe yon money and will 
not pay 3-011, if I am kind to your children, you 
will forgive me the debt. When I have a note at 
your bank, and, with money in my hands, refuse to 
pay it, if in other respects I am well-behaved, you 
will send me my note cancelled when it becomes 
due. If I am amiable and pleasant among men, 
that will balance rnj* lack of integrity. Is this a 
caricature ? I see something like it every day. 
Men say when this thought of unrighteousness is 
pressed home upon them, " I will try to do better ; 
I will read my Bible more." But reading the 
Bible is not fully obeying God. "I will attend 
church more faithfully." But attending church is 
not obeying God. " I will be more careful about 
my pikers." But being careful about your prayers 
is not obeying God. " I will try to be more gentle 
and kind and friendly with men." Admirable ! 
But being all this is not obeying God. This is on 
a lower plane, and is no substitute for the obedi- 
ence of God. It is only by doing God's w r ill that 
a man ever can have life ; and one is grieved to 
the heart when he finds that men are trying to 
substitute good wishes and prayers and reading 
the Bible and attending church and speaking well 
of religion, for the simple-hearted obedience of 
God. I would not speak lightly — Oh, that I 
might speak with more than human eloquence of 



196 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

the value of virtue and morality in the earth ! I 
would exalt reading the Bible and prayer and the 
reverence of God in the sanctuary, and honor and 
sincerity and truthfulness among men. All these 
God requires. But when all this is done, it may 
be that we have not found God. It was the 
shrewd and sharp saying of some one upon the 
"Charge of the Six Hundred," when they rushed 
" into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell," 
throwing away their lives to accomplish nothing, 
" This is magnificent, but it is not war." Some- 
thing like that may be said of all the forms of vir- 
tue and decorum : " These are magnificent, but they 
are not religion." There is no religion without 
God, and a man is not religious until he thinks of 
God. Morality is not religious until a man is 
moral because God requires it, and he renders his 
morality to him. The circle must have a centre, 
or it is not a circle ; and the centre of religion is 
God. The needle of the compass must find the 
north ; and the north of morality is God. When 
morality points to him, then it is religion. Why 
should we not do right to please God, and for his 
sake possess the virtues ? Why should we think 
that adorning the prison and softening the fetters 
and loosening the stocks for men is a worthy sub- 
stitute for the belief on the Lord Jesus Christ 
which alone can save man? 

We can come to this thought of the necessity 
of our submitting ourselves to God in obedience, 



WHAT MUST I DO? 197 

if we think upon the relation which we are to bear 
to him forever. We might, perhaps, otherwise 
come into a state in which we should be reason- 
ably content, if it were not for the fact that God 
is love. Friends, I do not know how it impresses 
you, but the most serious truth which I have to 
confront in questions of duty is that God is love. 
I should have an easier conscience if it were not 
for that. I should care less for his treatment of 
me, if he did not love me. It is little to you that 
the stranger on the street does not notice you; but 
if your friend passes you by ! It is little to this 
man that the boys do not speak to him; but if his 
own children will not speak to him ! It is a small 
matter to the boys that the men whom they meet 
do not smile upon them ; but if their father or 
mother will not look kindly on them ! I can 
think of nothing which shall be harder for the lost 
than to see the averted face of the love of God. 
To look at him from the golden streets, while I 
walk beneath the trees which yield their fruit 
every month ; to look up to God and find him turn- 
ing away ; and to think that he cannot look 
approvingly upon me, but that I am spending my 
years under his disapproval, knowing that he is 
dissatisfied with me, displeased with my motives, 
discontented with my life, might well make me 
desire to depart from heaven and be at peace. 
The man was not driven away by the soldiers, 
nor by the girl who frightened him. He stood his 



198 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

ground ; he kept by the fire and warmed himself, 
that Galilean fisherman. But at last, when no 
one was speaking, no hand was uplifted, no threat 
had reached him, suddenly this stout man went 
out, and in the darkness wept bitterly, for " the 
Lord turned and looked upon Peter." The hard- 
est look to bear is the sorrowful look of a friend. 
His anger you could endure, but his sorrow 
crushes the heart. " Peter went out " — of course 
he went out. The world was not wide enough to 
give him a place where he could stand and bear 
the sight of those sorrowful eyes. The years were 
not brief enough for him to pass through them and 
lose sight of that tearful, pleading gaze, when 
"the Lord turned and looked upon Peter." How 
could a man live forever under the sad eyes, and 
before the broken heart of the only friend he ever 
had? Call it heaven, if you will, but do not call 
it blessedness. There is no salvation until Christ 
smiles upon us ; until God approves us. When 
God is pleased, we are saved ; when Gocb is con- 
tented, we are right ; when the face of the Son of 
God looks approvingly upon us, here in these 
streets, or yonder in the celestial courts, we are in 
heaven. 

Brethren, I am not speaking to-day of the 
delights of Paradise. I am asking simply this : 
that you and I may be right. Let us once for all 
be done with the delusion that God is so good we 
may wrong him, and that because God is love it 



WHAT MUST I DO f 199 

does not matter what lie thinks of us. We do care 
what he thinks of us ; and we care all the more, 
and we shall always care the more, because God is 
love. There is nothing that persuades me more 
into the necessity that I must be right if I would 
find heaven, than that God's love summons me to 
this obedience. 

This is the word which God's Spirit brings to us 
this morning. We must regard this question 
which is before us. Let us be right in the 
righteousness of it. Our duty is plain. Shall we 
do it? We shall be saved when God knows that 
the secret spring of our life is true to him. That 
was a fine sentence in one of the papers last week. 
Some one, writing of Mr. Gladstone, who had 
been obliged to give up a visit to his constituents 
on account of his health, said, "When Mr. Glad- 
stone says that he regards it as an obligation 
to have an interview with the electors of Mid- 
lothian, that is the same thing as saying it will be 
performed." That, I suppose, may be taken 
as the leading characteristic of the grandest Eng- 
lishman of our day. It makes any life grand, and 
anv life is feeble without it. To see that a thing 
ought to be done, and to have this equivalent 
to seeing that it is done, makes up a heroic life. 
We see our duty ; we confess it. Is that the 
pledge that we will do it ? 

I plead to-day simply for the right. A man 
ought to love God. Shall we submit our life 



200 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

to God? We must come to God's mercy, because 
we are guilty. The mercy of God is Jesus Christ, 
his Son. There before this incarnate, redeeming 
mercy, we will say, " Here, Lord, I give myself 
away. I take thy will and it shall govern me ; I 
take thy word, and it shall teach me." "But shall 
I not fail ? How can I know the will of God ? " 
one asks. He shall guide you into all truth. 
"How can I do the will of God? " He shall keep 
you from falling, and present you faultless before 
•the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. 
" Can I come up out of this inconstant and guilty 
life into the grace of God, forever to abide within 
his compassion ? " " The Spirit and the Bride say, 
come ; " and the mercy of God saith u Come, all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden ; Come unto me, 
for I am God's mercy, and I will give you rest." 

Three things, then, beloved : First, to devote our 
life* from this hour steadfastly unto obedience 
to God ; secondly, to intrust ourselves steadfastly 
unto God in mercy, which is Christ ; thirdly, from 
this hour to go our way doing those things which 
will please Christ. 

I leave this word with you with these sentences 
of Holy Scripture, which teach us that, if a man 
return to God he shall be saved ; that, if a man out 
of his broken life will come back and begin life 
again at the mercy of God, he shall be saved ; and 
that the power that shall save him is the mercy of 
God in Jesus Christ his Son. 



WHA T MUST I DO ? 201 

" This is a faithful sa}~ing, and worthy of all 
acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world 
to save sinners." 

" There is none other name under heaven given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." 

" He is able to save them to the uttermost that 
come unto God by him." 

" The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
us from all sin." 

" The precious blood of Christ." 



XI. 

THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 



Scriptuke Lesson : / John. Chapter iv. 

Text: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, 
because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, 
that we might live through him. Herein is love ; not that we 
loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the 
propitiation for our sins. / John iv : 9 and 10. 

WE may add to this the fourteenth verse : 
"We have seen and do testify that the 
Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the 
world." There is, then, a grand truth which lies 
before all which God, our Father, has done for us, 
in the love which he has for us. God is love, 
and God loves us. There can be no question 
more important than this : What is the feeling of 
God towards men, as they are really living and 
working in the world ? The answer of our 
Lord is, that when men needed to be saved, God 
loved the world. 

We have this precedent fact of the love of God; 
we have the love of God giving his Son for men ; 
we have the love of God following the gift of his 

202 



THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 203 

Son with those calls which bid us to eternal life. 
When we read the story of Christ's life as it is 
written in the Old Scriptures, we find this move- 
ment of God's love through all his work and 
in his words. God is seen reasoning with men, 
bidding them to reason with him, though their 
sins be as scarlet ; calling them to himself, though 
they are going away to death — "Turn ye, turn 
ye, for why will ye die ? " God is found talking 
with himself and calling himself to account, lest 
in an}^thing his love has come short ; going as the 
vine-dresser among his vines, looking up through 
the leaves and parting them here and there, that 
he may see if anywhere there is a ripened cluster ; 
at last dropping his hands in despair and crying 
out in that sad and anxious sentence, " What 
could have been done more to my vineyard, that I 
have not done in it ? " We are to lay this down 
as the grand truth ; the grand fact never to be 
questioned — against which our reasoning and our 
feeling are never to prevail ; which nothing in 
law or judgment is to destroy — the love that 
God has for men ; for men in their guilt, 
for men in their death. We are able to re- 
peat, and, with our voice rising as we say the 
words, we do repeat those spirited lines of the 
English preacher and singer, when he seems 
to throw all his force into his song, lest some one 
should question it, or as if somewhere he had 
heard some whisper of doubt concerning it : 



204 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. \ 

I say to thee, do thou repeat 

To the first man thou mayest meet, 
In lane, highway, or open street — 

That he, and we, and all men move 
Under a canopy of Love 

As broad as the blue sky above. 
******* 
And one thing further make him know, 

That to believe these things are so, 
This firm faith never to forego — 

Despite of all which seems at strife 
With blessing, and with curses rife — 

That this is blessing, this is life. 

From this fact of God's love, pass now to the 
manifesting of God's love ; for it is obvious that 
if it be love it must show itself. A mere emotion 
beyond the heavens, in the breast of God, avails 
us no thin cr. It is not love unless it lives. There 
is no such thing as dead love, and " They never 
loved who dream that they loved once." God's 
love must move because it is living ; it must seek 
those towards whom it looks, that it may bless 
them out of its own wealth and strength. 

An Italian writer not long ago, speaking of one 
of the most famous of modern Spanish painters, 
whose works he had been examining, said, " It 
is the last point which painting can reach 
before being translated into action." The 
painter could only drop his brush and do the 
tilings which he had depicted ; that was all which 
was beyond ; but that was a wonderful thing be- 
yond. It is a great step from the thought to 



THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 205 

the deed ; from the man upon the canvas to the 
man upon the street ; from the love looking from 
out the painted eyes to the love dropping from out 
the living hands. God's love coming from the 
divine eternal repose into a life wherewith it 
seeks to bring men to itself, this is love doing the 
one thing which makes love perfect. 

God's love shows itself to men before Christ 
comes. It is in his favor and his providence ; 
it is in his long-suffering patience, and compas- 
sion ; it is in his exceeding great and precious 
promises ; it is in his communion with men, bear- 
ing them up as a shepherd bears his sheep ; carry- 
ing them as an eagle carries her young ; keeping 
them as one keeps the flock in the green pastures 
and by the still waters. God's love moves through 
all. It is in great events ; when he calls Abraham 
to be the leader of humanity; when he raises 
Moses from the bulrushes to be the world's law- 
giver ; when he sends the prophets to instruct the 
world in morals and religion, until he whose day 
the prophets heralded shall come. This is the love 
of God. 

But all this has not availed to accomplish God's 
purposes. On the night when Christ was born, 
the world did not know that Jehovah was God. 
A few Jews in Jerusalem and Juda, and scattered 
here and there through the lands, knew ; but the 
world in its despair bowed before its idols, 
and Paganism itself was breaking to its fall. 



206 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

There was one thing more that God could do. 
He could come into the world himself; not send, 
but come. We are brought, then, to the thought 
which the apostle here presents to us as Ave gather 
up these teachings to-day with the other teachings 
out of the heart of this same man, who was u that 
disciple whom Jesus loved," and we see God's 
love alive, in the world, at its best and doing 
its best for men. It seems a singular thing as we 
make up the merit of men, and the desert of 
actions, that this which is done by the Son of 
God in the earth, with which we are familiar, 
should be ascribed to God. I think it almost the 
strangest verse in the Bible, when you take it by 
itself, that which St. Paul wrote to the Romans : 
" God commendeth his love toward us, in that 
Christ died for us." I ask you to admire my 
patriotism and devotion, for I know a man who 
went out and died for his country. You say, " I 
should think it was that man's devotion which 
was to be admired, rather than yours." God com- 
mendeth his love because somebody else died for 
us. One would think it should be that Christ 
commendeth his love because he died for us. I 
could readily understand that ; the other is not so 
clear. But you say it is marvellous love when 
God gives his Son to the world that he may bear 
our burdens, and suffer and die for us. That is 
true. But does not the chief love belong to him 
who comes ? Is it love which, taking sorrow from us, 



THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 207 

lays it upon another ? We ma}' call it loving us, but 
what will the Son say ? We may call it a manifes- 
tation of love on the one hand helping us ; what 
shall we say of that on the other hand, crushing 
him f 

I have no solution of this mystery, except that 
which our Lord himself gave, which was this : " I 
and my Father are one. The Son can do nothing 
of himself." He was so thoroughly one with the 
Father, that he could not think, or love, or act 
apart from him. They could not be separated. The 
love of the Son was the love of God. I see, then, 
how God may commend his love when the Son of 
God dies, for the Father and the Son are one. 
God comes to us, enters into our humanity, loving 
us and putting his love into exercise for us, under 
this name of the Son ; under the name of Jesus the 
Saviour; under that other name Immanuel, which 
is, being interpreted by him who alone can inter- 
pret his names ; who alone can translate his life 
into our thought : which is, being interpreted, 
"God with us." 

" O Lamb of God, was ever pain, was ever love 
like thine ! " 

We have, then, these facts : we have Christ 
giving himself for us ; God sending his Son, as 
the Scripture teaches ; Christ coming into the 
world, as he said of himself, and thus redeeming 
us ; giving himself, as the text says this morning, 
first as " the propitiation for our sins ; " secondly, 






208 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

"that we might live through him;" and thirdly, 
as it is described in that larger phrase, u to be the 
Saviour of the world." 

We are not to look upon this act of God in 
giving his son as a singular act, separate from the 
whole spirit of his life ; a new law which has 
entered into the world. Christ is but fulfilling an 
eternal law in this, that he gives himself for men. 
There are three expressions to which I will call 
your attention particularly now, that you may see 
how this life of Christ in the world is carrying 
out a grand, broad principle which is working all 
the time among men. This law has three state- 
ments. First, it is in this, and it is Christ's state- 
ment: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the 
ground and die, it abideth alone " ; but if it give 
up its life, if it die, then other grains, and many 
grains, spring from it, and it is glorified in this 
multiplying and ennobling of its life. The sec- 
ond statement is this : "I am the bread of life ; " 
ye are to eat this bread and live forever. Bread is 
this grain of wheat sprung up and multiplied; and 
then this new grain is itself bruised, crushed, made 
into bread, which, again, is of no service until it is 
dead. No ; not until you consume the bread does 
it do } T ou any good. But when the bread has 
given itself for you, then it enters into your vir- 
tue and knowledge ; into the immortality which 
comes here in its beginning. It becomes a part of 
you. It is not a poor loaf upon the shelf, but its 



' THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 209 

strength is in }~ou, that you may live "by means of 
it. The third and only other illustration which 
I will mention, is this : " I am the good shep- 
herd ; " I am " come to seek and to save that 
which was lost," as the shepherd goes after the one 
sheep which has wandered from the ninety and 
nine; goes up into the cold mountain, finds him, 
and brings him down into the fold at his own cost. 
Nay, " I am the good shepherd," who, finding the 
sheep in great peril, throws himself between the 
sheep and the peril, and gives his life for the 
sheep. Then the sheep live, and he lives in 
them. For Christ rising from the dead becomes 
more than ever the shepherd of the sheep ; receiv- 
ing more from them in their affection and their 
service, while he is glorified in that which he has 
done for them. There is, perhaps, no more vivid 
portraiture of the work of Christ than this, as he 
paints it out upon the Judan background ; the 
sheep and the wolves, and the Christ between. It is 
a strong picture and full of meaning. But there is 
one thing more than the beauty of the words ; it is 
the beauty of the deed, when the living Christ 
gives his life for the sheep. 

We have considered the fact and the method; 
shall we look now at the reason of the fact? 
Why is it that Christ gives himself for the sheep ? 
Why is it that, being the bread of life, he consents 
to be eaten ? Why is it that, being the grain of 
living wheat, he consents to die ? 



210 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

First, lie does not die because he is guilty. We 
associate suffering with guilt. He is not guilty; 
he is holy. He does not die because he is weak. 
He is three and thirty years old, and all his 
strength is in him ; he has a multitude attending 
him ; he has the world open before him ; yet he 
goes steadfastly to the cross. He does not die 
because he is compelled. If he does, there is no 
patriot soldier who does not exceed him in devo- 
tion. "I lay down my life of myself; no man 
taketh it from me." He does not die, again, be- 
cause he is under obligation ; it is his free and 
gracious act. He does not die reluctantly ; he 
talked but little of his dying, though in that little 
he said wonderful things. When Jesus came to 
his death he said this : " The hour is come, that 
the Son of man should be glorified." It was the 
glory of dying to redeem, which, in his thought, 
surpassed the death itself. 

Or, again, to change the list a little ; he does 
not come into the world and give himself for men 
because God is angry with men, and needs to be 
persuaded and appeased ; for even then God loves 
men. He does not die for men because he is bear- 
ing their punishment, being himself holy. No 
one can bear the punishment of another. Guilt 
cannot be transferred, and no man can be pun- 
ished for anything but his own offences. He does 
not give himself for men because there is a defi- 
ciency in that which God has done which he 



THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 211 

wishes to fill out ; because of a sudden purpose of 
love springing up in God's mind. The love of 
God was in his law, making every syllable of it, 
as truly as it was in his redemption, bringing men 
back to it. He does not die, fourthly, that he 
may reconcile justice and mercy. God's justice is 
merciful and God's mercy is just. It is reconcil- 
ing a thing unto itself to speak of reconciling the 
two sides of the one thought of God. Neither, 
finally, does he die as if this were his last estate, 
simply to perish, one more victim, one more man 
giving himself that others may live while he 
remains dead. He gives himself to rise from the 
grave, and to bear humanity redeemed up into his 
own glory, and to live and reign forever where 
the saints of God render their homage and their 
worship unto him who sitteth upon the throne and 
unto the Lamb. 

I am asked, then, passing from these negative 
considerations, why it is that God's love takes 
this especial form. We notice these three things: 
In the first place, that men need to be saved. 
Secondly, that Christ could save men if he would. 
Thirdly, that Christ loves men enough to save 
them. Men need, Christ is able, Christ is willing ; 
there you have the atonement. You need it ; it 
is possible for it to become real. There is love 
enough to make it real. The whole truth is 
comprehended in those three statements. We 
are standing upon holy ground. Men have formed 



212 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

upon these facts various explanations, and some 
of them are admirable. It is good to see how 
vigorous and glowing are the thoughts of men 
touching this fact of the redeeming love of Christ. 
They have studied it, turned it to the light, sought 
the reason for it, followed out the methods of its 
working, and made to themselves the plans in 
which all the parts find a place. Their studies 
make excellent reading. Yet it will be noticed 
that in these explanations there is one simple 
truth. From different ways of looking at life, 
men come to different conclusions upon almost 
every subject. There is this noteworthy thing in 
regard to the various studies upon the redemption 
of Christ, that, however men may pursue the 
theme, they come back to one great truth. From 
the highest sacrificial theory which makes Christ 
bear the burden of our guilt, to the humbler idea 
which makes him simply one who appeals to our 
conscience and affection, they agree in this sub- 
stantial and central fact : that Christ gave him- 
self to save men, and that because Christ gave 
himself, men can be saved. With many points of 
difference they agree in that. It is very in- 
structive that the study of the history of Christ's 
life, as it is recorded in the Scriptures, shows him 
as the shepherd between the sheep and the 
wolves. 

If we can see Christ in that position, we have 
seen the very heart of it all. If we can under- 



THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 213 

stand this, and receive it heartily, we have 
received Christ as he gives himself for men. 

I delight to read what men sa}^ about this. 
Often have I read it, patiently have I studied it. 
I shall continue to read with an open mind. But 
I always come back to the New Testament, and 
always must do so, for it is there alone that I find 
the explanation of Christ's work which satisfies me. 
I am deeply impressed with the conviction that 
if there is any privilege which should be accorded 
to everybody, it is the privilege of telling why he 
does a thing. I claim that right. My action may 
be foolish; it may seem to you irrational; but I 
assert my right as against the world, to explain my 
conduct. What I ask for myself I give to others ; 
and most of all to the Christ of God. To him 
belongs the right to tell why he came into the 
world, why he gave his life for men, what he 
expected to accomplish by the offering of himself, 
what he thinks men onght to do to avail them- 
selves of it. I come back from my rambling to 
say, " O my Saviotir, thon hast the right to give 
thine own account of thy life and death, and I am 
silent until thou hast spoken, and when thou hast 
spoken." 

Now what does Christ say ? Let us put away, 
for this time, at least, the words of men, and our 
own thoughts, and listen to him. I will only ask 
you to take these two or three sentences of his 
own words. " The Son of Man is come to seek 



214 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

and to save that which was lost." " This is my 
body which is broken for you." " This is my 
blood which is shed for many for the remission 
of sins." " God so loved the world that he gave 
his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
" I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd 
giveth his life for the sheep." This is simply 
letting him tell his own story. It is not much to 
allow him to make his own representation of his 
works, and picture it, if he will. " I am the good 
shepherd ; the good shepherd giveth his life." He 
does not hint that this is to set the sheep an 
example or to stir up in them a new love for the 
shepherd. What they required was to be saved 
from the wolves. Nothing could be plainer than 
this presentation of his work. We see the sheep 
and the wolves, and the Christ. " The good 
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." 

Now, dear friends, that is the atonement. It is 
a brief statement, but it is wonderfully clear and 
satisfying. I ought to say to you candidly that 
the deepest thought which I ever have upon the 
atonement comes from such simple sentences as I 
have now read to you. More and more do I find 
content in the plain words of Christ himself and 
the men whom he instructed. The matter is a vital 
one to me, for my own sake and as your minister. 
I rejoice to rest my faith, and build my preaching on 
the truth which Christ taught concerning himself. 



THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 215 

The sheep, the wolves, the Christ between — I can 
understand that as a fact. We may goon a little 
further, still keeping in the light of the holy Scrip- 
tures. When Christ came into the world there 
were two principles at work. The one was that 
principle which makes the men who do good 
blessed. God himself, supremely good, is 
supremely blessed, and all goodness tends to 
happiness. Then you find a principle of evil in 
the world, coming out in lameness and blindness 
and death, and continually producing unhappiness. 
On the one side goodness tends to all which we 
mean b}^ life ; and on the other side wickedness 
tends to all which we mean by death. These two 
laws prevail ; and we find in the Scriptures, as we 
find in our daily papers and daily walks, that the 
current thought of the world is away from God ; 
that the ruling passion of men is selfishness and 
not godliness, and we know that the result can 
only be unhappiness. With these two forces at 
work, Christ comes into the world. You will 
mark that this which I have now described is not 
a statute, but a necessary relation of cause and 
effect. It is not God saying, " I command this, 
that eveiy good man shall be happy, and that every 
bad man shall be unhappy," giving a law which 
he may easily reverse. It is not a commandment. 
It is simply a fact, which is as necessary as the 
being of God himself, that goodness shall tend to 
blessedness and to the elevating and the glorify- 



216 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

ing of the whole character and heart of man. 
This comes out of the nature of God, and is not 
the mere command of God. We make a great 
mistake sometimes when we think we have to deal 
simply with a code of statutes, which the one 
administering the law may at any time modify, or 
repeal. The statutes are as unrepealable as the 
nature of God. If they should be repealed, you 
could no longer be certain that God is good, or 
that he is blessed. I put this down as an ever- 
lasting and inevitable truth, that out of goodness 
comes blessedness, and all which we mean by life. 
Into these facts God came with his Spirit and 
his own nature. With these two principles work- 
ing among men, God came down and was incar- 
nate in our humanity. He saw men going through 
their wickedness into their despair. He threw him- 
self in their path. He let this pain and suffering 
and wrong assail him. He was not made guilty, 
or he would have been a sufferer merely, and not 
a deliverer, standing with all the power of his 
divinity. But, standing with the sympathy of his 
pure humanity, he let this sorrow, this pain, the 
malice of sin, fall upon him and overpower him. 
In doing that he brought in not a new law, but a 
new working of the law of God. The old princi- 
ple remained, " The wages of sin is death," and 
unto this he bowed; but he asserted this new 
principle : " The free gift of God is eternal life 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." So that those 



THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 217 

who had clone wrong and to whom sorrow was the 
inevitable destiny, could be brought out of that 
course, because the sorrow had fallen upon him. 
He was not punished, nor compelled, but he took 
upon himself that which the very nature of things 
made necessary ; the pain which belongs with sin. 
Christ does this that he may save men. These 
are the facts. If I were to frame an explanation of 
them, I would call it the "parental theory." It is 
God being the Father. If } t ou are a good father, 
3 ou always insist upon it that only goodness shall 
have its reward. You tell your child, if you are a 
Christian mother, from the first time he can under- 
stand you, that righteousness tends to happiness, 
and unrighteousness away from happiness : and 
you hold your child, by all the force which is in 
you, to the doing of that which is right. Yet, 
rather than that }'our child should suffer for his 
misdeeds, you would do anything to lead him back 
and save him. You insist upon it that he must do 
right. There is not a day in the year when you 
would not suffer to have him do right, and every 
clay you are giving 3 r ourself to this intent. I call 
it the "mother theory," the "father theoiy." I 
write it in with the Lord's prayer: " Our Father 
who art in heaven ; forgive us. Thy kingdom 
come. Thy will be done on earth" — on this part 
of the earth where I stand. 

I have said all that I wish to say. I should be 
glad to end here ; yet I know the questions which 



218 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



come to your mind. Men say, "If God is love, 
why is it not enough for a man to turn from the 
wrong to the right ? " It is enough. That is 
what I have been saying all these years. That is 
what has been said ever since Christ came into 
the world. It is enough, if a man turns from the 
wrong to the right. But what is the right? 
Right is obedience. There is no turning to the 
right until you turn to God ; and there is no 
reception there until it is God in mercy to whom 
you turn ; and God in mercy is God in Christ. 
If you will consistently carry out the turning from 
the wrong to the right, you will find yourself 
turning to the grace of God which is in Jesus 
Christ, his Son. But why is Christ necessary? 
Why cannot God forgive us just as well without a 
Saviour? Why cannot we go to God without 
any thought of Christ? In reply, I say three 
things : First, we do not have to go to God with- 
out Christ. There is no need of it. Why should 
we seek him by a long path, as if he were afar 
off, when we can go to him here ? Hear Christ's 
word again : " No man cometh unto the Father 
but by me." Secondly, it is necessary that God 
should make an expression of his character, of his 
nature ; and that he should let it work itself out 
as against all unrighteousness and evil, lest we 
should feel that sin is such a trifling matter that, 
whenever we choose to make new resolves every- 
thing will be changed in our relation to God. 



THE LOVE OF GOD MANIFESTED. 219 

The third and last thing, which will be to 3-011, as 
it is to me, the roost imperative, is this : God him- 
self appoints the way. He calls us to himself by 
Christ. Would he have given his Son to the cross 
if it had not been necessaiw ? You and I may 
not know why ; God knew. Do jou. say that God 
is love, and therefore we do not need a Saviour? 
God loved Christ quite as much as he did men, 
and he gave him for us and he calls us to him. It 
is God's way ; let us be content, grateful and obe- 
dient. 

There may come another question : Why is it 
necessary for us to do anything ? Why may we not 
float upon this tide of God's love into Paradise ? 
I give again three % answers : First, we do not need 
to do this. We can have divine help, we 
can come to Christ ; we can, therefore we should. 
Secondly, we are free. Character must be made 
up by our own hands ; we have gone away from 
God of our own will; we must come back to God 
of our own will. There is no obedience but will- 
ing obedience. The third and last reason is 
this: Christ calls us to believe. " Whosoever be- 
lieveth," he said. If any man believeth, he 
shall be saved. When the Holy Spirit comes, fol- 
lowing the work of Christ with his divine 
efficiency, it is not to foster our strength ; to make 
us feel how good we are ; it is to glorify Christ : 
to take of the things of Christ and show them unto 
us, that we may be saved by him. 



220 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

There are these two things which the text this 
morning teaches us. One is, that Christ has 
given himself for our sins. Let us believe that 
fact ; believe it is a fact, and rest in it and love it. 
Christ says that he has given himself for us, and 
that there is no need that we should die in our 
sins. The other teaching is this : that we are to 
live through him ; we are to take his will and do 
it; to go steadily on in obedience to God who 
teaches and calls us through Jesus Christ his 
Son. 

That is a beautiful little incident which Doctor 
Livingstone records concerning his mother. He 
heard of her death when he was away. He 
hastened home, and found that death had come to 
her suddenly. An hour and a half before they 
thought she was going, her daughter Agnes, 
sitting by her bedside, said to her, " The Saviour 
has come for you, mother. You can lippen yourself 
to him ? " Of course she said u Yes ; " it was David 
Livingstone's mother. You know them by their 
fruits. I think there would be more David 
Livingstones if there were more such women. 
She had the natural mother feeling, and had said 
she would like to have one of her laddies lay her 
head in the grave ; but if none was there, she 
wished William Logan would do it. David came 
home in time for that filial office. But there was 
the simple faith of mother, and daughter, and son, 
expressed in that Scotch phrase, "You can lippen 



THE LOVE OF GOB MANIFESTED. 221 

yourself to him, mother ? " You can trust him ; 
you can hold to him, and can rest in his promise as 
you go your new way. 

So I come away from men ; and first of all, I 
come away from myself — out of this poor, incon- 
stant will and way of mine ; out of it all to him ; 
not to what he did merely, but to him. There is 
one Saviour, and that is the Christ himself. Oh, 
friends, let us " lippen " to Him. 



XII. 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 



Sceiptuee Lesson : Bomans viii : 14-39. 

Text : Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; and it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when he 
shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he 
is. John iii : 2. 



IT cloth not yet appear what we shall be." 
We know as little as this disciple when he 
wrote these words. He knows more ; and many 
who have gone from onr side have gained that 
great access of knowledge, for they have seen the 
Lord. But to us it remains true that "it doth not 
yet appear what we shall be." Hence we gather np 
with eagerness every hint of the holy Scriptures 
touching this which is certainly before us, this 
land upon whose confines we are standing, and 
into which so many are entering day by day, if 
we may form to ourselves any conception of that 
which is coming to us and has come to them. In 
all the Scriptures there is perhaps no teaching 
clearer regarding our future life, more level to our 
comprehension, commending itself more heartily 

222 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 223 

to our thought, than this : in that world which is 
above us and beyond us, that world of light and 
love towards which we are looking, the supreme 
delight, the highest glory, will be this : " We 
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 

But " it doth not yet appear " where we shall be 
in that vast world ; nor with what body we shall 
stand ; nor what employment we shall have where 
still and forever it will be " more blessed to give 
than to receive " ; nor to what glory, what heights 
of advancement, we shall rise through the eternal 
training of God, in the endless years. All this 
"doth not yet appear." It is concealed from our 
eyes, because it is not possible that it should be 
written in words. Words cannot describe a sun- 
rise, or a symphony. Words cannot tell what 
home is, what love is, what life is. If there were 
words formed, if there were pictures drawn, to 
make it clear to us what this must be, we should 
not be able to comprehend the revelation until it 
had become a part of our own experience. There 
are certain things which a man can never know 
until he feels them ; until his life enters into them, 
and is taken up by them. Michael Angelo drawing 
figures upon the wall and upon the floor, cannot 
understand what he shall be in that grand career 
opening before him. David, keeping his flocks, 
has small notion of the royalty which shall be his ; 
and as he plays his tuneful reecls, he cannot con- 
ceive of himself as leading the worship of the 



224 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

saints on earth, perhaps in heaven. We have to 
enter into these lives and rind what love is by- 
loving ; what home is by having a home ; what life 
is by living. It is only in this way that we can 
rise into the conception of that to which we are 
coming. 

This limitation of our powers is for our help. 
If we could see the glory that is to come, we 
might be weary of to-day ; it might seem harder 
to do that which we must do — to dig in the 
ground, to build houses, to handle our gold, to 
write our books, to give our instruction, to trans- 
act our business. This might become intolerable 
to us; our eyes might not be able to see the 
implements of our common industry if from the 
upper world the glory should smite us on the face. 
We are kept waiting in promise and in hope. 
It is made certain to us that we are going hence ; 
we are assured that it shall be well for those who 
depart hence to be with Christ ; but what we shall 
be, in what form of glory we shall spend our 
eternity, "it doth not yet appear." Yet it is a 
marked excellence of religion that it turns our 
thoughts forward. 

The Bible, sometimes criticized because it does 
not deal more thoroughly with the past, with 
which we have nothing to do, deals thoroughly 
with the present and the future with which we 
have everything to do. However much the mul- 
titude of books may surpass it in the history 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 225 

of that which has been, it stands solitary in this 
preeminence, that it tells us of that which is to 
be ; and that which is our present duty and 
our hope is the practical truth which be} r ond 
everything else it becomes us to know. I claim 
this for the Bible, that it is the most practical of 
books ; and I claim this for religion, that it con- 
cerns that to which our interests are most utterly 
committed ; not the past, into which we cannot 
return, but the future, into which we are sure to 
enter. 

As we read these words of the apostle this morn- 
ing, we mark a limitation in them. They are set 
into this present time. "Beloved, noiv" says the 
apostle ; not yesterday, not in the primeval ages; 
I am speaking to you of that which is now. In 
this fact of the present stands that which is the 
promise of all which is to be. " Beloved, now 
are we the sons of God" — find out, if jom can, 
what you were a myriad years ago ; — " now are 
we the sons of God." From this present fact 
comes this future glory. Because we are now the 
sons of God, we shall be like him presently, "for 
we shall see him as he is." 

Take, then, this fact first : we are now the sons 
of God. The good men who have given us our 
revised version of the New Testament have 
changed in two respects these words, and for the 
better. They teach us to read: "Beloved, now 
are we children of God." They strike out the 



226 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

article which limits it. It is no longer " the 
sons," but " children." We are children of God 
by virtue of our nature ; we are born of God. 
We are spirit as God is spirit. We are born 
again by the Spirit of God, regenerated by him, 
so that we partake of the divine nature. We re- 
ceive from God that affection which a father gives 
his sons, and we return to him that affection which 
children give their father. We receive that pro- 
tection, that instruction, that guidance which a 
father gives his children. We return that obedi- 
ence, that trust, that submission, which children 
render to their father. We have our home with 
him here, and our heaven is to be with God in 
that which is described by our Lord as our 
Father's house. 

If we take that more restricted use of this term 
in which it is applied to our Lord himself, the Son 
of God and the Son of Man, who is the " only be- 
gotten Son" of the Father, we find still, in the 
most wonderful way, the assertion of this fellow- 
ship with him. Thus, Jesus himself said, speak- 
ing to men : " My Father and your Father." His 
greatest apostle said that he was "the first-born 
among many brethern:" the eldest son. In the 
epistle to the Hebrews it is written that he is not 
ashamed to call us brethren. When we find these 
terms applied on the one hand to God as the 
Father, and on the other to us as his children, we 
are not to think of them in some loose application, 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 227 

as if the}^ went beyond the fact. The truth is, they 
do not equal the fact. The words are not large 
enough. God is our Father in the largest way, 
and all which we know of fatherhood here is but 
the likeness to his. The image of fatherhood is 
in our house ; the reality of fatherhood is in God. 
We imitate fatherhood which has its reality with 
God. Yv r e call ourselves children of our father 
and mother ; the reality is when we are the chil- 
dren of God. The literal is the eternal ; the di- 
vine is the real ; the true fatherhood is in God ; 
the true childhood is the childhood of men to 
God. 

We are not surprised at the use of this name, 
father, as we feel how tenderly the word readies 
us in our lives here ; how it comprehends our in- 
fancy and blesses us all our days ; that we never 
can become separated from it, and that no man 
ever gets so old or strong that he does not need his 
father's counsel and his mother's love ; and that 
the tenderest thoughts, which we keep till the 
last, are the thoughts of our childhood in the 
father's house, by our mother's side. And when 
we are taught to elevate all which is filial and 
sacred into our thoughts of God, we should be 
able to rise in faith, and see that this which we 
know is but the beo'inning f that which is for- 
ever. When one of the missionaries in India was 
translating this epistle by the aid of a Hindoo 
youth, he found the young man unwilling to write 



228 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

this sentence. He had written an avowal of 
God's love, and of the grace which God has shown to 
men ; but when he was told to write, ' b now are 
we the sons of God," he wanted to write instead 
of that, " now we are permitted to kiss his feet." 

From this comes, secondly, that revelation of 
glory which the apostle here brings to our atten- 
tion. We shall be like God, and therefore like 
Christ, the Son of God, who is the image of the 
Father. We are already like him in nature ; we 
shall be like him in character, and in glory. The 
apostle teaches us that " beholding as in a glass the 
glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same 
image from glory to glory." We shall be like him 
in taste, enjoying what he enjoys, turning away 
from that which he dislikes. We shall be like him 
in life and work, finding in his purposes our own 
law and life, and delighting to do his bidding and 
to share his work as he is striving to bless men in 
all places and through all the years. We shall be 
like God; we shall not be God; we shall not be 
equal to God ; we shall be like him ; our righteous- 
ness shall resemble his ; our glory, our spirit, our 
taste, our occupation shall resemble his. 

This is to come, again, because " we shall see 
him as he is." The very place where we shall see 
him is favorable to this resemblance of our heart 
and life to his. Taken away from all that hinders 
us here, we shall have all the favorable conditions 
which shall tend to make us like him; all incite- 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 229 

merits to evil shall be removed ; there will be no 
inclination to selfishness, or earthiness ; we shall 
be broken from the bondage of the flesh, and our 
very body itself shall be spiritual like the Lord's. 
We shall stand with a renewed heart where the 
Holy Spirit shall find us, and the light shall shine 
through the uncurtained windows of the soul and 
illuminate our body and our spirit. This putting 
our weakness away from us and receiving within 
us the divine strength shall carry us on to the fulfil- 
ment of that word, and we shall be like the Lord. 
We shall be like him because we shall see him. 
Our Lord's face we shall behold ; the tones of his 
voice we shall hear ; we shall keep company with 
him; in his presence we shall be incited to right- 
eousness. In the presence and power of his will 
we shall choose to will like him and be holy. 
Then shall the Lord's Prayer be uttered in the 
deep sincerity with which we are taught it : " Thy 
will be done, by me, be done here, in heaven, 
to-day, as it has been done in heaven by the saints 
in the past." We shall behold the face of Christ 
in the light which the Spirit of God shall throw 
upon it. Then shall his promise be carried fur- 
ther : "The Holy Spirit shall glorify me." He 
shall hold up in the clear light of heaven the deeds 
of Christ. " He shall testify of me ; " then shall 
the mystery of the incarnation become plainer, and 
those deep and weighty truths of redemption be- 
come clearer ; then shall we be moved to holy 



230 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

living by the sight of that which lie has done for 
us, when it is no longer one afar off, and never 
seen, whom we are loving, but one whom we see 
face to face, and of whose love we are continually 
reminded by the continual manifesting of the same 
affection. The sight of God — is there anything 
in all the visions of the future which can surpass 
this in potency? Is there anything in the future 
to which we look forward, which is more glorious 
than to see him as he is? I call to mind those 
simple words of Laura Bridgman, written in an- 
ticipation of that which was before her: " By the 
finger of God my eyes and ears shall be opened. 
The string of my tongue shall be loosed. With 
sweeter joys in heaven I shall hear and speak and 
see." She has not seen a human face since she was a 
little child. For fifty years not once has she looked 
upon a friend. And I said, it is almost worth 
while to be blind, if the first face which one shall 
see is the face of Christ. Would you not like to 
be near that woman when, for the first time, she 
sees a friendly face and that face is Christ's? It is 
for us, too. Out of this world we shall rise ; out of 
its darkness into that light; out of its sinfulness 
into that righteousness ; and our e}*es blurred 
with the dust, and dazzled with the glitter, and 
dimmed with the tears of this world, shall behold 
the face of God. And we shall be like him when 
we shall see him as he is. 

You will mark, again, that these words have in 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 231 

them a twofold limitation. It should be frankly 
confessed, that great as they are, and vast in their 
expansion, they do restrict the glories of heaven. 
They limit those who are to enter heaven. The 
sons of God, the children of God, are to have 
this delight. They limit again the blessedness 
of heaven. It consists not in being there, but in 
being like God. To this twofold limitation we 
must attend ; first, that all who are in heaven are 
children of God ; and, secondly, that the delight 
of heaven is in being like God. If one, then, is 
not a child of God, manifestly he is not prepared for 
this blessedness ; and if a man cannot find happi- 
ness in being like God, then manifestly he must 
find that this happines is not for him. And this 
limitation runs through the Scriptures. Heaven 
is never spoken of as a broad plain, but as a city — 
a walled city," a city with its gates and with a path 
leading to it. Its wails are jewelled, but they are 
still walls. Every gate is a pearl, but still it is a 
gate. The door is open, but still it is a door. The 
path can be trodden, but still it is a path. One 
comes over the path through the door, into the 
city ; and standing there the child of God, able to 
enjoy what God enjoys, he has found heaven. 

If there be any profit in it, it is very easy to 
enlarge this. Let us be liberal to-day. The num- 
ber of those who shall enjoy heaven can be in- 
creased hy lessening the quality of the happiness, 
so that more people shall be capable of enjoying 












232 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

it. We can enlarge our college on this plan. 
Simply degrade it to a grammar school, bring in 
the studies which are pursued in the lowest schools, 
and we can multiply our students indefinitely. 
We can enlarge the number of musicians in the 
same way. Simply make music include beating a 
drum, or ringing a bell, and we have increased the 
number of musical artists. Make science include 
paving the street with stones, and we can all be 
scientific men. 

What enlargement we can readily make ! Yet 
we say it is better that these professions and in- 
stitutions should maintain their high standing, 
and that men should be trained to enter them and 
enjoy their advantages. That is, instead of de- 
grading the college to a primary school, we may 
offer to every one who wishes it the opportunity 
to enter college and pursue liberal studies. 

We hold that it is better that music retain its 
nobility, and that we be trained to appreciate that 
which is highest and, according to the measure of 
our ability, really enlarge the melody and harmony 
of the world. Is it not better that heaven should 
remain just what it is, and that we should be pre- 
pared to enjoy it as it is, than that we should re- 
main as we are and heaven be brought down to 
us? As it is to-day, no man enters God's heaven 
who does not love God. Bring down heaven so 
that everybody is in it, and you have made a place 
abounding in selfishness. It is this world over 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 233 

again. It is not worth while for a man to take 
the trouble to die. As well stay here, if heaven is 
simply an extension of this world, and men there 
are loving or not loving God, as it 'may happen; 
and one trusts him and another does not, and one 
is kind and another is not, and one worships and 
another does not. If it is simply the confusion 
and misrule of this world continued, pray, what 
have we gained by going to heaven ? Is it not 
rational that we should desire to stay where we 
are? We may change our idea of heaven. We 
may broaden the common conception of it. We 
may make it receive and retain all classes and con- 
ditions of men. We can write heaven where we 
will. But the Bible method is the true one. Let 
God's -heaven remain. Take not a jewel from the 
walls, not a pearl from the gates ; let nothing which 
defileth pass the threshold ; let no earthiness or 
selfishness enter in ; let there be no man there 
who does not love God and the Saviour, Christ the 
Lord. Let heaven stand ; then train men up for 
it, teach men to enjoy it, cultivate their taste for 
it, make them God's children, deliver them from 
themselves, that they may be worthy of heaven, 
and thus prepare them for God's heaven. It is 
nobler and kinder than to degrade heaven into the 
dust of this world. 

The poor boy in the streets of London, watch- 
ing the royal procession, moved by the glitter of 
the pageant, says, " This is fine ; some day I shall 



234 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

ride in the royal carriage, I shall have the guards 
about me ; I shall be sovereign of England. I am 
good ; I want to be king of England ; the queen 
is kind ; she will appoint me king." You tell him 
that he cannot be king of England because he is 
not in the royal family. It is the queen's eldest 
son who is to be king. But what if there were 
two kings, as in Siam; what if there were a thou- 
sand kings, as among the African tribes ? Still, 
one must have royalty to come to the regal estate. 
It is possible to-day for a man to become God's 
child; then he has the benefits and blessings of 
God's children. You say that God calls every- 
body his child and loves everybody. It is true ; 
more true than you think. But the true child 
loves as well as receives love. Childhood needs 
the answering heart of man if it is to have the 
child's blessing. We can be God's children in the 
high and true sense. It is written, " As many as 
received him, to them gave he the right to become 
children of God." Would you rather that were 
written in this way : " He gave a selfish man the 
right to enjoy heaven ? " It is better to change 
the man and let the heaven remain. Or take our 
Lord's assurance that we must be — that is, we 
may be — "born of the Spirit of God." To be 
born of God is to be his child and his heir. Or 
recall these words, " The Son of Man is come to 
seek and to save that which was lost." Or these, 
" I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 235 

never perish, neither shall any man pluck them 
out of my hand." The whole burden of the Gos- 
pel is this : " There is a glorious heaven, fall of all 
delight, of supreme and everlasting blessedness ; 
and I am here to prepare 3*011 to enter it." Shall 
we cry, " Lord, bring heaven down to us ? " No ; 
he will bring us up to heaven. " Lord, change 
heaven so that a selfish man can enjoy it?" No ; 
he will change the selfish man so that he can enjoy 
the heaven which is. "Lord, change heaven so 
that a man can enjoy it who never loved the Lord 
and Saviour ? " No ; he will let heaven stay pre- 
cisely as it is, and change us so that we shall love 
and trust and serve the Lord of heaven. 

This is the method of the Gospel. It is a 
grand, broad hope ; it is the larger hope ; it 
leaves heaven on the heights and with its 
glories unharmed ; it offers to every child of 
man, the world over, the opportunity of entering 
into it. It withholds no man ; it makes it too 
difficult for no man. It does not stretch out the 
walls of heaven until they enclose this earth with 
all its earthiness : it lets the walls remain. It 
does not take away the door, as Samson carried 
the gates of Gaza, but it opens the door, and 
leaves it standing open. It does not drive us in, 
or force heaven around us, as the waters rising 
make an island of a man's house, but it stands at 
the open door of God's heaven and cries, "Whoso- 
ever will — without money and without price — 



236 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



whosoever will, wherever he is, let him come. 
Every joy of heaven is his, all the wealth of heaven 
is his ; the summons is free to everlasting gloiy. 
Behold, I have set before you an open door into 
God's enduring grace." Surely we are gainers 
by this method. Let heaven stand. It is for all 
men, in the Father's love for all men. The Father 
calls all men ; Christ gave himself for all men ; 
" the Spirit and the Bride say come." The wealth 
of God and the pure joys of his heaven are of- 
fered to us for the taking. Let us promptly and 
gratefully accept the grace of Gocl, that we may 
enjoy the riches of his love in his heaven. 

Let us mark the breadth of this, and feel, first, that 
heaven is very great and good, and then, that it is 
offered to every one of us. Every man is asked to 
become the child of God ; every man who will can 
be the child of God. " Ye will not come to me," 
Jesus said. It may be that we shall fail of heaven. 
But we shall not fail of God's heaven because 
there is a door, for the door is open ; nor because 
we are not called, nor because we cannot come. 
If we fail of God's heaven it is because we will not 
be the children of God. 

Perhaps we shall get a clearer idea if we re- 
member that this heaven which is above us is 
Christ's heaven. He has made it, lie will enjoy it. 
It is such a heaven as is pleasant to him. If, now, 
we are to enjoy the same heaven, then we must be 
like him, and able to enjoy what Christ enjoys. 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 237 

Whenever we come it must be with a preparation 
to enjoy the things of Christ, There are visions of 
the future which many are cherishing, that some- 
where, beyond this world, down the ages, all men 
will enter into the kingdom of heaven. If it is so, 
the}' must come in the one way. A million years 
hence heaven will be as it is to-day. Xo man can 
ever enjoy heaven until he is qualified to enjoy 
what Christ enjoys. Xo man can ever enter 
heaven, ages and ages hence, but through that 
which Christ has clone. Xo man will ever be 
fitted to enjoy Christ's heaven until the Spirit of 
God has made him a child of God. Time has 
nothing to do with that. There is no change of 
method. If we ever find our way into the city, it 
will be through that open door, and the door will 
be there forever and forever. 

If this be true, should we not find the beginning 
of heaven here, by choosing here what Christ likes? 
If we can enjoy the tilings of Christ now, then we 
shall have the enjoyment of his presence here. 
We can have the sight of his fa'ce which shall fill us 
with joy. It was a pleasant remark of the woman 
through whose guidance so many are " stepping 
heavenward," when speaking of her scholars and 
their trivial ways and words, she exclaimed, w ' Oh, 
but this is such a nice world, and the girls do not 
know it! " Yes, this is a good world, and we do 
not know how good it is. But the greatest joy 
which comes to men in this life is the joy of being 



238 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

like Christ; having his will, his character, his 
spirit, his confidence in the Father, his anticipation 
of the glory to come. These we can have here 
to-day. He said many things touching heaven. 
Sometimes a man goes out at the dawn, and look- 
ing up at the star which heralds the day, admires 
its beauty, and there comes a voice out of the ex- 
cellent glory : " To that man, who, rising early, 
comes forth to serve me through the day, I will 
give the morning star." He looks up to the sky 
which is above him, and thinks of the temple of 
God with its roof glittering with the light which is 
celestial and eternal; and he wonders what shall 
hold up the everlasting beauty ! " That man who 
comes forth to his work loving me and doing my 
will from day to day, I w T ill make him a pillar in 
the temple of my God." Who shall rule there, 
and what shall be the spirit and the law of heaven, 
where the throne of God and of the Lamb is set ? 
" That man who, kneeling here, devotes his life to 
me in this world, makes himself pure of heart and 
does the deeds which are pleasing in my sight, I 
will grant to him to sit with me in my throne." 

But oh, beloved, to own the morning star, to be 
a pillar in the temple, to sit upon the throne, can- 
not allure and comfort us and draw our thought 
and life upward and onward as does this simple 
word which we have read to-day. Here in this 
weakness and this sin ; here with this poor vision 
and these faltering hopes ; here with these disap- 



WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. 239 

pointments and defeats, the great comfort which 
comes to a man is that there is a day when he 
shall be like Him. With glad voice he cries, " I 
shall be like Him, for I shall see Him ; I shall see 
Him as he is." 



XIII. 

THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 



Scripture Lesson : Hebrews, i. 

Text : Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and 
forever. Hebrews xiii : 8. 

JESUS CHRIST is the same yesterday and 
today, yea, and forever." It is in this way 
that the new version teaches us to read the sen- 
tence. There is here the assertion of two facts : 
first, that our Lord has eternal life ; his eternal 
yesterday, his endless years; and secondly, that 
through this eternity he has been, and ever more 
shall be, the same. 

We are accustomed to make a threefold division 
of Christ's life, though not always in these words. 
We think of the part preceding his entrance into 
the world, then of the time which he spent among 
us ; and then of the years in which he now is 
living. It is not difficult for us to feel — indeed, 
it is our common thought — that during the long 
periods before and since his incarnation, our Lord 
is the same. We regard his life here, perhaps, as 

240 



THE UNCHANGING CUBIST. 241 

a break in his career, a change in his condition, 
while the parts before it and after it hold him in 
the sameness of his character. 

Let us look, for a moment, at the fact that 
Christ is the same yesterday and forever. We do 
not need to dwell upon it. I remind you simply of 
these sayings of Scripture regarding him. First, 
" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God.*' " The 
Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." Then, 
upon the other hand, for the future, " Unto the 
Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and 
ever." Or take this saying of our Lord's, when, 
looking forward, he prayed to the Father : " Glorify 
thou me with thine own self with the glory which 
I had with thee before the world was ; " thus 
bringing his past into his future and asking for 
the endless ages only that which in the unbegotten 
eternity he had enjoyed. 

It is not upon this that I wish to dwell, but rather 
upon this fact : that our Lord, during the brief 
interval between the ''yesterday" and the to-mor- 
row, the time which is here called the " to-day," 
was the same as during these years before and 
after that brief period. We are surprised, perhaps, 
that this should be so. Our common thought is 
of a change — the greatest change that could be 
made; a change which it beggars language to 
describe. Is it not written of him — and to find 
it we do not need to turn beyond the simple record 



242 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

of his own life — that the word which was in the 
beginning became flesh? Surely no change could 
be greater than that. He was worshipped by the 
angels, and yet he was made a little lower than the 
angels. He was rich, yet for our sake he became 
poor. Take that sentence of St. Paul's in which the 
two facts are asserted, that he was "in the form 
of God," " but emptied himself, taking the form of a 
servant ; and being found in fashion as a man, he 
humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto 
death, yea, the death of the cross." Then for the 
future : " Wherefore also God highly exalted him, 
and gave unto him the name which is above every 
name." Surely as we read from one passage to 
another and mark these transitions, it is difficult 
to believe that he is the same in this to-day that 
he was in the yesterday. 

Or, if we should take the outward circumstances 
as they are presented to us, and mark the change, 
we have the coming from heaven to earth ; the 
exchange of a throne for a manger ; the worship 
of angels for the rejection of men ; the blessedness 
of his eternity for the wounding, the smiting, the 
rejection, which here were visited upon him. It 
is a giving up of life for death upon the cross. It 
is coming from that endless brightness into the 
gloom of the sepulchre. Is there any change con- 
ceivable greater than this ? What, then, means 
this word of the Scripture which is written in 
among these marvellous transitions, that Jesus 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 943 

Christ to-day, in this world, in all its wretchedness, 
and upon its cross, is the same that he is enthroned 
in heaven, in the endless years which are before 
and after us ? 

We are familiar with the fact that a man's out- 
ward condition may change without any change in 
the man. It is not so common as it ought to be ; 
yet it is not so rare that we do not often recognize 
it. We mark one coming from his boyhood into 
his manhood, taking on the responsibilities of life, 
doing its work, filling its offices, administering its 
trust, gathering its treasures, and then passing into 
a serene old age which bears him on to his immor- 
tality ; but through all these changes remaining 
still the same, keeping the simplicity of his boy- 
hood, retaining his quick and vigorous conscience, 
never suffering to be obliterated the distinction 
between right and wrong which he learned at his 
mother's side ; never forgetting the simple maxims 
of morality which were taught him in the Sabbath- 
school, fashioning all his life by the unchanging 
rules of right, keeping the tenderness and sweetness 
of his affection. We are familiar with a change 
which is not the change of the man, even within a 
single day, as when a strong man rises in the 
morning, makes his prayer before God, plays with 
his children, goes out into the stress of life, spends 
the day upon the exchange, in the court room, in 
the workshop, comes home at night, to the seclusion 
of his own fireside, to lay off all the harness of the 



244 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

day and all the cares of life; and yet from first to 
last is the same man, moved by the same spirit, as 
really living for God at noonday as at midnight ; 
as really living for his children when they are out 
of his mind and he is only working for them, as 
when he holds them upon his knee or joins in their 
childish sports. We say of him, from the morning 
when lie prayed, through the day in which he 
toiled, in the evening when he rested, that he is 
the same man. Open his heart : no change has 
passed upon it ; his purposes have suffered no 
alteration, his affections have not been modified. 
From morning to noon, and noon to midnight, he 
is still the same. 

Now these changes which have come upon 
Christ's life are changes of condition which do 
not necessarily involve a change of character. 
To come from heaven to earth, from the throne to 
the cross, does not show any change in him. In- 
deed, it is an attribute of a great nature to be 
able to come from the throne to the manger, and 
to be the same in the manger that it was upon the 
throne. The man who is able in all places to be 
the same, is the oak and not the orchid; is the man 
of God and not the man of this world ; and is 
living by an unchanging law. It is saying a great 
deal, but it is not saying too much, nor stepping 
beyond the true conception of his character, to say 
that in his humiliation there was nothing to 
change Christ ; that, whether he was worshipped 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 245 

by angels, or mocked by men; whether he was re- 
ceiving gifts or giving himself, he was the same. 
It is the royalty of manhood to be independent of 
conditions ; it is an essential part of the divinity 
of Christ. 

Yet we stand in wonder and admiration before 
the changes in Christ's life. I know of nothing 
to which they can be closely compared. I have 
thought of a man at home ; a father, great and 
rich, whose house is furnished with all luxuries, 
whose children live in his love. From this father, 
out of this home, a son wanders away; goes down 
into the "far country; " wastes his substance, for- 
gets his home. Then the father, leaving his 
house, goes after his son. He gives up his busi- 
ness for the search ; spends his money and his time 
that he may reclaim his son ; suffers for him ; gives 
himself in sacrifice; at last finds him and brings 
him home. It is the father who has clone this. 
He is the same man in the far country that he was 
in his home ; the same man in his seeking and sav- 
ing that he was in the repose of his own dwelling. 
It is because of a love which is equal to the 
search, that he goes down to bring back his wan- 
dering, his lost son. And I said, when God comes 
down out of heaven and is made flesh, he has not 
become some one else ; he is the same God, striv- 
ing to bring us back to himself by his unchanging 
love. Hence, we read this sentence of the Script- 
ure : that the Lamb of God who was given for us 



246 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

in sacrifice was " slain from the foundation of the 
world." We read again in the words of the apos- 
tle that God hath " saved us, and called us with 
a holy calling; not according to our works, but 
according to his own purpose and grace, which 
was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, 
but hath now been manifested by the appearing of 
our Saviour Christ Jesus." 

If, now, we examine the life of our Lord as it is 
lived before us here in the world, we shall see that 
it is not held within the common limits, but is 
connected with a life which is not bounded by 
time, nor confined by events. 

From first to last he is living as one whose years 
here are but a part of a life which began long be- 
fore, and will continue after he has gone hence. 
His entrance upon life is not of this world. The Holy 
Ghost descends ; the power of the Highest over- 
shadows the Virgin ; and the holy thing which is 
born of her, is called the Son of God. He bears two 
names. He is called " Jesus, for it is he that shall 
save his people from their sins." He is called by the 
angel "Immanuel, God with us." Of the years 
which follow we know almost nothing. Thirty 
3'ears out of the thirty-three lie in obscurity. 
There is not a legend to be trusted. Not an inci- 
dent is known except the interview of a boy twelve 
3^ears old with the doctors in the temple. The 
years lie in their mystery. They are lost in the 
brilliancy of the ages before and after them. 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 247 

As lie moves through life he is clearly in connec- 
tion with the past. He does not say, " I am here," 
but " I came ; " "I was sent ; " " God loved the 
world and gave his Son." He is continually in 
contact with the unseen. The heavens part, and 
the Holy Ghost descends in bodily form like a dove 
and abides upon him. He goes among the cliffs of 
Hermon, and' his face becomes dazzling and his 
garments white, " so as no fuller on earth can white 
them." Angels herald his coming, succor him in 
his temptation, minister to him in the garden, 
watch his sepulchre, attend him on the mount of 
his ascension. He had but to lift his pierced hand 
and more than twelve legions of angels who were 
so near that he could touch them would have res- 
cued him from his captors. He spends nights 
upon the mountains in communion with his father. 
He hears voices which no man can interpret ; some 
say it thunders ; others that an angel spake to him. 
He talks with God as a man with his father. He 
declares that his kingdom is not of this world. 
Standing here, in all his humility, he says, " Ye 
shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of 
God ascending and descending upon the Son of 
Man." Thus he lives, not as belonging in Naza- 
reth or Bethlehem, in Jerusalem or Samaria, but 
as one whose home is above. His Father's house 
is beyond the world. He is tarrying here with his 
glory upon him, and it comes even to his death, of 
which he says, " Now is the Son of Man glorified." 



248 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

He lived three and thirty years in Palestine : but 
there is not a spot in the land which can be con- 
nected with his presence, save only Jacob's well at 
Samaria, where in his weariness he rested. He 
reads his biography from Moses and the prophets. 
In the time of his transfiguration the Lawgiver 
and the Prophet come and talk with him of that 
which was well known in heaven, and would be 
celebrated here for centuries. Surely he lives in 
contact with the past and with the years to come ; 
in communion and fellowship with the unseen. 

His teachings were of the same character. 
Even the people said that he taught like no other 
teacher they had known. There was a strange 
authority about his words. The officers who were 
sent to bring him to the Sanhedrim, came back with- 
out him, and said, "Never man so spake." He 
spoke npon themes of the most vital interest : God, 
duty, immortality, the grace of God, the gift of 
God, the judgment and the life to come. Men 
sometimes had talked of these things, but no one 
had ever spoken clearly until he declared the truth. 
He taught with authority which intelligence and 
honesty could not resist. His words remain to- 
day, still strong and fresh. The world has no 
system of ethics like the Sermon on the Mount. 
The world has not yet risen to the plane of the 
morality which he taught, and enforced, and illus- 
trated with the wisdom which was his in the eter- 
nal yesterday. 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 249 

If we pass to his works it is quite the same. 
No one ever worked like him. Others had wrought 
miracles by the power of God ; he wrought mir- 
acles by his own power. His miracles had long 
before been named. They were in the record of 
the past. You find scarcely anything said of them 
in the Gospel which was not written in the proph- 
ets. You have but to fix names and dates to what 
the prophets said, and you find recorded in the 
Old Scriptures the works which are the miracles 
of the New. You can read the Gospel almost as 
well in Isaiah as in John. There was no reason 
why his life should not be described centuries be- 
fore he came into the world, for he was living, with 
his purposes formed, from the beginning. Our 
plans may come to nothing. With God to plan is 
to do. God's intention is God's action. God's 
purpose is as certain as its accomplishment will be. 
God's to-morrow is as fixed as his yesterday. 
Hence Christ had but to live out the endless pur- 
pose which he had with the Father, and his life 
would pass into this earthly stage and go on into 
its glorjr. Indeed, we might say that the very 
works which such an one must do if he comes here, 
are these works which he did. It is a wonderful 
evidence of the truth of the miracles, that no one 
else has done works like them. It is sometimes 
said that these miracles cannot be true, because 
they are not common ; we ought to see other per- 
sons doing the same thing. But their singularity 



250 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. ' 

is a witness to their reality. If they were com- 
mon, they would not be miracles. If others 
did them, the Christ would not be content with 
them. It is because no one else ever did them, 
and no one else ever will do them ; it is because 
in all human might there is nothing like the mir- 
acles of Christ, that his miracles are true and the 
witness to his divinity, to his yesterday, and his 
to-morrow. For we may be sure that if the Word 
becomes flesh and dwells among men, it will not be 
content with the duties of the common life, the 
ordinary work, the customary usefulness of men. 
He will not content himself in wandering over 
the hills about Nazareth, and communing with 
nature, and drawing in its strength and inspira- 
tion, and using these in the years of his public 
ministry. If Christ is here, he will do what no 
one else has done. The blind will receive their 
sight, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap, the 
dead will be raised up, and the poor will have the 
Gospel preached to them. If there have not been 
done upon the earth such things as never before 
and never since were wrought, then the Jew is 
right and the Christ is yet to come. Christ is not 
yet to come to redeem the world. The Christ has 
come ; the everlasting yesterday has become to- 
day. 

His death was in keeping with his life. No 
one ever died as he died. The teachings of Script- 
ure seem to be set aside when they approach his 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 251 

death. " Yea, though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for 
thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they 
comfort me." How many have lived in the faith 
of these words ? Yet, when he came to his death, 
forsaken and despised of men, suffering under the 
darkened heavens, the " rod " was not stretched 
out for him, and the " staff " did not comfort him. 
He did not go to his death unwillingly, as one 
overpowered. He gave his life. " No one taketh 
it away from me ; but I lay it down of myself," he 
said. No one else ever claimed for his death such 
power as he claimed. He claimed for his death 
more than for his life. " And I, if I be lifted up 
from the earth will draw all men unto myself! " 
" I lay down my life for the sheep," for " I am the 
good shepherd." Men must feed upon his broken 
body, and drink his blood, to have the life which he 
gives, and his blood is shed " unto the remission 
of sins." It was not possible that he should be 
h olden of death. Stone, seal, soldiers, Jewish 
malice and Roman might could be of no avail. 
When upon the dial plate of heaven the moment 
of the third day had struck, he came out from the 
sepulchre. Had all the trees of the garden been 
soldiers, with their spears close as the rustling 
leaves, it would have made no difference. When 
the hour had come, Christ must come. There 
was the yesterday which nothing in to-day could 
master. The eternal could not be entombed. 



252 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

He rose from the dead ; he revealed himself to 
men ; he stood among his disciples and reached 
his hands over them in blessing, and was parted 
from them, and received np into his glory. 
Through all his life what claims he made : " Before 
Abraham was, I am ; " "I am the resurrection;" 
"I am the life:" "I am the way;" " No man 
cometh unto the Father but by me;" " No man 
can come to me except the Father draw him." 
Recall that grandest of all promises which has 
nothing to exceed it. "I give unto them eternal 
life ; " I give eternity ; I give an eternity of life. 
I have mentioned certain features of our Lord's 
life, that we may see how closely his to-day is con- 
nected with the eternal yesterday and to-morrow. 
If we regard the life as a whole, the same unity 
appears. The endless proportions entered into his 
being and character. He had the traits of no na- 
tion, the limitations of no age. He was the Son of 
Man, of mankind in its every generation, in its early 
purpose and endless destiny. He had the wisdom 
of Him who was from eternity. His power, his 
holiness and justice, his goodness and truth, were 
not human attributes, born of the present, belong- 
ing to this world. In their perfection was the 
witness to his eternity. He amazed the doctors at 
the temple when he was but a boy. He always 
surprised men. He is still the wonder. His glory 
was disclosed at times ; but the concealment of his 
glory was a part of his humiliation. His words 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 253 

were his witness ; and his silence was in keeping 
with his words. He displayed his might ; but the 
withholding of his power is as impressive as his 
miracles. His commandments declared his au- 
thorit} r , while his gentleness and compassion and 
patience marked his control of men, and, like his 
authority, were not of to-day. He was master 
when he was servant, and servant when he was 
master. Among sinful men he was separate from 
sinners in his holiness. Between men in their affairs 
he was just, and he declared his enduring justice. 
Tempted like men, his goodness and truth were 
his comfort before his Father when he was to die 
for the sins of the world. This is a divine career. 
Yesterday and forever meet in to-day. Study his 
life in its details ; examine its majestic proportions ; 
note its revelations and its concealments ; mark its 
spirit and its word and deed ; trace it from its 
opening when the heavens were thronged with 
angels and the midnight air was rilled with their 
songs, to its close, when the sun was darkened, and 
angry men denounced him and soldiers cast lots 
for his raiment, while he died between the male- 
factors, and on to the hour of his resurrection, 
when he burst the bands of death and the grave. 
Continue with him in a quiet, reverent, grateful, 
loving sympathy : let him breathe upon you ; let 
him open his heart, and tell his hopes to you, and 
manifest the love which is beyond all men's; walk 
with him, rest with him, live and love with him ; 



254 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



let his grace fall upon your life and his blessing 
become your own experience ; and it will become 
clear, more and more clear, that this precious to- 
day is not his life : nor this with the eternity which 
is beyond. The past is his. He is the same yes- 
terday, and to-day, and forever. Such a life is not 
of the earth earthy. It does not bear the super- 
scription of time. It needs a past to account for 
it, and it cannot pass away. Nothing is simpler in 
the presence of the Christ than that which the 
Gospel teaches : The Word was in the beginning ; 
the Word became flesh; the Word shall be for- 
ever. He is, and was, and is to come, the Al- 
mighty. To him be the glory and the dominion 
forever and ever. 

This is the Saviour who comes to us for our homage 
and trust; who asks not our chance thought, for he 
gave us no chance thought; who requires the rul- 
ing purpose of our life, the devotion of our thought 
and work to him, that as he lived for us we may 
live unto him in an unchanging love, the same in 
the sanctuary and in the world, the same in this 
world as in heaven, with our to-day making up 
our to-morrow. 

In the light of this subject, we see, first : The 
grandeur of this redemption in which we stand. 
It is no thought of man ; it is the great, the end- 
less thought of God. He has given himself for us. 
He has come to us, carrying out his purpose, this 
endless purpose of his grace. Let us not think of 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 255 

God as changing, but as keeping us in his unchang- 
ing love. 

Secondly, in the persistence of our Lord's pur- 
poses, and the constancy of his love, we have great 
comfort. His ways are long. His plans are not 
affected by the events which break our years. A 
thousand years are one day to him. What we 
name death is a change in our life, not in his in- 
tention or promise. We are to keep this in mind, 
that we may understand him and order our 
thoughts wisely. One of our greatest mistakes is 
in attempting to confine his promises within the 
brief spaces of our life. It is not the highest doc- 
trine, but it is a serviceable principle, the doctrine 
of waiting. We ask men to suspend their judg- 
ment till we have completed the work which they 
are examining ; and not to accuse us of breaking 
our word till the time has passed in which the 
word can be kept. Let us be honorable with God, 
and be still while his work is incomplete. 

He brings one into great prosperity, and the 
man blesses him. He takes away the riches, and 
the man cries out against God. " For all life is 
unroofed, and the tempests beat through." Let 
the man be still, and see what will come after- 
wards. The plan has not changed. The road 
which led up the mountain has gone down on the 
other side. When it has passed through the val- 
ley, it will ascend again. Meantime there are 
green pastures and still waters in the valley, and 



256 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

the man can look up to the hills. Wait now and 
see what the Lord will do with you. Trust him 
and obey, and you shall be content. 

A child is born into the world, and his cradle is 
made an altar where parental hearts offer their 
sacrifice of prayer, and say in their confidence, 
" It is God's child " ; and they name him with the 
name of God. It is right. The child grows into 
glad and hopeful youth. He will be a man in 
whom his parents will more than live again, and 
the world will be stronger for his coming. 

The vision fades. The youth falters, his eye 
loses its light, his hand its cunning. He has gone. 
The Lord has taken him. The Lord has changed 
his place, but has not changed his own design. 
His plan has advanced, and borne the young man 
forward with it. In another world, in other em- 
ployments, he will fulfil his career. Hope has 
ascended and entered its eternal form. The plan 
of the Lord for them to whom the surprise and 
disappointment have come has not changed. He 
meant it for good when he gave them their 
delight, and his good thought continues with 
them, and in his time will bear them on into the 
world whither their treasure has preceded them. 
They will be satisfied when they awake in the 
perfect day. They will be satisfied here even in 
their sorrow and longing, when they can see the 
unchanging wisdom, the unalterable love, and the 
endless purpose of their God. 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 257 

Again, it is in this unchanging character of 
God that we have the ground of our hope of 
eternal life. The original plan of God regards 
the guilt of men. When he created the world he 
meant to redeem it : else he would not have cre- 
ated it. When he saw that all things were very 
good, he saw the cross of Christ. Sinai and Cal- 
vary were before him. He saw the tree of life, 
and the altar of life. The sin of man is not a 
surprise to him, creating an emergency for which 
he was not prepared. He made men free, and 
knew the result in advance. He bestows a love 
which would last. Man destroys himself, but 
he does not destroy the love of God. He breaks 
the commandments, but he does not break the 
purpose in which the commandments have their 
place. By his sin man changes himself, changes 
the world, changes his relation to God, changes 
his destiny. But the love of God remains. It 
seeks man in his new estate. It gives itself for 
him in sacrifice. If the man will turn, will return 
to God, he will find the love waiting to receive 
him ; nay, running to him with the kiss of wel- 
come and forgiveness. Those are majestic words, 
rich in comfort and hope, which are written as the 
Old Testament closes: "I am the Lord, I change 
not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not con- 
sumed." The Saviour whom we trust is not 
born of this present time. He is the same yester- 
day, and forever, and to-day. 



258 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Hence we see that there is no need that some 
men, some saints, some glorified spirit should come 
between ns and God. We can come directly to 
our Father. There is no one nearer than he, no 
one more loving. We can bring our confession 
and our prayer directly to him. But does not the 
Scripture say, " There is one God, one mediator 
also between God and man, himself man, Christ 
Jesus?" But who is the "man Christ Jesus?" 
It is the eternal word become flesh; so that 
when I come to him, I come to God. Jesus 
said, "No one cometh unto the Father but by 
me ; " he also said, " No man can come to me 
except the Father which sent me draw him." He 
also said that he could do nothing of himself : " I 
and the Father are one." If I may recur to my 
illustration, it seems like this : when the father 
goes out from his house to seek his wayward son 
and bring him home, he is a mediator between him- 
self in the house and the son in the country. He 
is not some one who is neither father nor son. 
He is the father, only he is the father out of doors. 
He is the father in sacrifice. It is the unchanging 
love, working in a new condition. The God who 
is the mediator is the God incarnate. God in 
Christ is a mediator between us and God who is 
not in Christ. God here, teaching, leading, help- 
ing, saving, is the mediator between us and God 
who has sent him into the world ; and he that 
hath seen him hath seen the Father. I do not 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 259 

come to Christ that I may come to God ; I come 
to Christ because God is in Christ. In him 1" 
meet the Father. " Who can forgive sins but God 
alone ? " Yet " the Son of man hath power on 
earth to forgive sins." We cannot have a divided 
allegiance of gratitude for our salvation. One is 
the Saviour, even he who is " the same yesterday 
and to-day and forever." 

We see, finally, the reality of the communion of 
saints. All men can unite in this love of God. 
Separate as we are by race, by language, by taste, 
by a thousand things, we can come together in this. 
Here, around the Lord's table, the yesterday and 
the to-morrow meet in the to-day. How shall those 
born centuries ago understand this which is before 
us to-day in the communion ? Yet there is nothing 
in our life which will be more familiar to the saints 
of the distant times than this table which is before 
us. Let Abraham stand with us and learn what 
this meaneth. But that friend of God would say, 
" This is the promise which was made to me. 
Your own records trace from me the descent of 
the Christ. I was told that in me all the families 
of the earth should be blessed. I desired to see 
the day of Christ ; and I saw him and was glad." 
Let Moses come to see here the fulfilment of the 
sacrifices which he ordained; he who on Hermon 
met our Lord and talked with him of his decease 
which he has accomplished at Jerusalem. Let 
Isaiah come, and unfold his own scroll and read in 



260 CAMBRIDGE SEBMONS. 

his own words of this which is here set before us ; 
of him who was " wounded for our transgressions, 
and bruised for our iniquities." Let David come, 
with his antique garb, with his strangeness of 
language and demeanor, to be surprised at many 
things he would see ; surprised at the plainness of 
our house and the simplicity of our worship; yet 
needing but a moment to bring him into sympathy 
with us when his eyes fall upon the table. As 
we call it the table of the Lord, and with glad 
hearts gather around it, he would say, " I know 
what this means ; I wrote it long ago. I blessed 
the Lord and sang, 'Thou preparest a table before 
me.' ' They shall be abundantly satisfied with 
the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them 
drink of the river of thy pleasures.' " 

But this is the crucifixion of the Messiah; he of 
whom you sung as a king was given to the cross. 
"I said that he should be given to the cross. Did 
I not write of him, 4 I am poured out like water, 
and all my bones are out of joint'. They pierced 
my hands and my feet." But when he was upon 
the cross, they mocked him and cried, " He trust- 
eth on God, let him deliver him now, if he clesir- 
eth him." "I said that they should do so; you 
may read in the twenty-second Psalm how they 
that mocked him cried, 'He trusted on the Lord 
that he would deliver him ; let him deliver him, 
seeing he delighted in him.' " The soldiers di- 
vided his garments among them. "I said that 



THE UNCHANGING CHRIST. 261 

they should do so ; 4 They part my garments among 
them, and cast lots upon my vesture.' " Fearful 
was his suffering upon the cross, and he cried, " I 
thirst." " I said that he should thirst," David 
would make answer: "'My strength is dried up 
like a potsherd ; and my tongue cleaveth to my 
jaws ; and thou hast brought me into the dust of 
death.' " But they gave him vinegar to drink. " I 
said, ■ The}' gave me also gall for my meat, and 
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.' " He 
called upon God, as one forsaken in his dying. 
" I said that it should be so ; that he should cry, 
' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? 
why art thou so far from helping me ? ' But he 
was rescued from the grave. Do not think, David, 
that he was cast into the sepulchre there to remain 
forever. " I said that he should not remain in the 
grave : 'My flesh also shall rest in hope ; for thou 
wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou 
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou 
wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is 
fulness of joy ; at thy right hand there are pleas- 
ures for evermore'." Let David come. Let all 
who are able to remember the atoning death of the 
Messiah, who is the Son of God, join in this sacra- 
ment. Of all the goodly fellowship in the house- 
hold of this ancient church, not one will be more 
welcome, not one will be more at home, than the 
saints of the elder time who looked for the Messiah 
beforehand ; and wrote the story of his redemption 



262 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



in promises and songs, whose meaning they little 
knew, but whose meaning we have come to see. 

Brethren, this is forever. We are going on to 
behold this unchanging Christ in fellowship with 
the prophets and with the apostles. It is asked if 
the Lord will wear forever the body of his humili- 
ation. I believe that is the common thought. 
The catechism encourages us to believe that ever- 
more in heaven we shall see the nail-prints and the 
thorn-prints and the spear-prints. It may be so ; I 
do not know. We shall know soon. But I have 
this fancy — it is little more than a fancy — that 
our Lord will not be forever " mortgaged to our 
humanity," but bringing all our humanity up to the 
plane of Jesus of Nazareth, will be incarnate in all 
his ransomed ones ; and that then we shall see 
more clearly what that word meaneth which 
teaches us that the church is " the body of Christ." 

Certainly we shall see him ; whatever form he 
wears Ave shall see him and know him. His un- 
changing love, his gentleness, compassion, forgive- 
ness, these we shall see. The Christ whom we 
behold to-morrow is the Christ of the eternal yes- 
terday, the Christ of this to-day. "I am the 
Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the 
beginning and the end." Thou art the same, O 
thou Christ of God, yesterda}', to-day, and forever. 
Glory be unto thee, O Lord, Saviour of men ; " as 
it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, 
world without end. Amen." 



XIV. 
THE WAYSIDE SEED, 



Scripture Lesson : Matthew xiii : 1-23. 
Text : And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, 
and the fowls came and devoured them up. Matthew xiii : 4. 

What though the seed be cast by the wayside, 
And the birds take it — yet the birds are fed. 

NOT in vain had the seed fallen from the 
sower's hand. It brought him nothing in the 
harvest ; but the fowls were the better for it. He 
had that comfort, that he had fed those who were 
not made to sow, or reap, or gather into barns. 
Two of them might be sold for a farthing ; but 
" your Heavenly Father feedeth them." Then it 
was not too small a thing for a man to do. Their 
title to the seed was the same as his. It rested 
upon finding it ; upon the care of Him who had 
provided enough for man and bird. The breeze 
bore the grains where the sower would not have 
cast them. But the breeze was from above, and 
the sower's toil and treasure were not wasted. It 
might come to pass that the birds should in some 
way repay his unintentioned care for them. 

263 



264 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Meantime it is no slight honor and privilege to 
be the hand of the Almighty and to care for his 
smallest ones, dropping his love, "which has taken 
on the form of seed, where they can find it. The 
other gentle words of our Lord, of the sparrows 
which cannot fall without your Father, words full 
of comfort, with their generous revealing of the 
Providence which watches over us, easily find our 
heart, to make us trustful, and patient, glad that 
we know a God so kind and constant, and a Sav- 
iour who could bestow the strength of his care. 
There is a quiet evangel in the lessons of the birds 
and of Him who guards and feeds them. It is 
good to read together all which our Lord said 
about them. It is good to find in this morning's 
parable that we may share with God this ministry 
of life, and be his visible Providence ; that a part 
of his thought and purpose and goodness is re- ■ 
vealed by us who have this fellowship with God, 
and manifest his nature ; that his kindness can 
overflow our hands like 

Rivers, to whose falls 
Melodious birds sing madrigals. 

It is happening to us all to repeat this part of 
our Lord's parable. We are sowing as we go on. 
Some seed falls by the wayside. We have our 
purposes, and invest our efforts in them, and look 
for a return which shall make us richer. Our 
mind is on the harvest as we scatter the seed. 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 265 

But just beyond our plan, and aside from our 
thought, our endeavor falls. There is no harvest, 
or the ingathering is scant. Still something has 
been done which was worth the doing. At least 
the birds have been fed. For example, a man in- 
vests his money in a factory, and means to increase 
his property by the investment. The year ends 
and he has no more than when the year began. 
He has no more, but the birds have had more. 
He has lived, and he has given bread to those who 
have toiled for him, furnished their homes, taught 
their children, preserved them for better days. 

So in all kinds of business. There may be 
times when the pecuniary return is very small, 
even less than nothing, while yet we have lived 
upon our industry, and others have been supported 
by the work ; saved from hunger and want ; kept 
and brought up to be useful in the world by the 
wayside seed. Every life has this unintentioned 
usefulness. If we do our work well, it cannot be 
but that some one will be the better off. The end 
which we seek may not be gained, but these inci- 
dental benefits will not be wanting. These may 
be greater in real worth than the things we sought. 
Just as a river may do more good by overflowing 
its banks and watering the adjacent meadows than 
by sending its swift currents into the deep sea. It 
was in this wayside flowing that the bread cast 
upon the waters came back after many days ; not 
at the mouth of the Nile, but on the fields over 



266 CAMB BILGE SERMONS. 

win cli it had passed incidentally, the bread was 
found. In the family we may find this side influ- 
ence ; the highest parental hopes may not be real- 
ized, but something will come from the home life. 
In the school, the pupil may not prove an apt 
scholar in his regular lessons, while yet he is learn- 
ing other lessons by the way. In our philanthropy 
we may not see our desire fulfilled, and yet we 
may be doing good in some different method. 

In our efforts for our personal good we may not 
attain to our ideal and become what we meant, 
but we may be growing on eveiy side ; building up 
our character, increasing in all manly grace and 
strength, proving our right to live. It is possible 
that in all these ways we may secure better results 
than we sought, albeit they be not the same. Per- 
haps feeding the birds may be better than filling 
our barns. 

Let us take this comfort as we go on. We have 
need of encouragement. We lay out our work 
somewhat in the dark, and plan at a venture. In 
few lives is the accomplishment like the intention. 
In most lives it seems less. We come to middle 
life, and then to old age, with a feeling of discon- 
tent. How often we say, how deeply we feel, that 
life has been a failure. The years of promise have 
come and gone, and what is there to show for 
them ? What have we done which needed so 
much time ? It will be some solace, and we have 
a title to it, that we have done many side things ; 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 267 

have touched other lives ; have helped to keep the 
family, the Church, and society ; have dropped 
good words, given money, bestowed sympathy, 
visited the sick, lent a helping hand, while our 
main work has been running on without accom- 
plishing all we designed. The birds have been fed, 
and the birds are our Father's, and the seed was 
his. 

Not all who seem to fail, have failed indeed. 

Our lives are intertwined. We dwell together 
and work in company. No life moves on by 
itself, complete in its own bounds. Life is not a 
sluggish canal, but a rapid stream which brings 
into its current the mountain brooks and the 
branches which water the meadows, and perhaps 
becomes itself the branch of a large river. It is a 
matter of opinion which is the largest river in 
our land. It would be more difficult to determine 
which is the most useful stream, or at what point 
any one is of most service. 

It is not easy to measure lives, or the parts of 
a life. A great life may take its character more 
from some undesigned influence, than from the 
effort which has sought to control it. A life may 
do more by turning the course of another life which 
it has not meant to affect than it does with design 
in the steady round of its vocation. If we could 
all speak, doubtless many would acknowledge 
this indebtedness to men who did not know that 



208 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



they were helping them. Perhaps some would 
confess that they have been most influenced by 
those who have not tried to order their ways for 
them. What a blessed thing it is that the Lord 
who knows all we do will reward those who 
do good when they do not know that they are 
doing it ! 

Would it do to leave all things to this inci- 
dental working; simply to go our way and be 
busy, and believe that, wittingly or unwittingly, 
we are doing all the good which can be required 
of us ? Very much is said of unconscious influ- 
ence, and said with truth. Shall we, then, simply 
pursue our daily work, and think that we are 
helping the world on without any special care 
or pains of ours ? 

It mio-ht be answered that the world is not con- 
tent with our unconscious influence and incidental 
benevolence, but is very sure to demand our atten- 
tion and to insist on decided and deliberate 
action. It intrudes itself into our homes, 
and states its wants with persistent itera- 
tion. The birds may be trusted to come to us. 
If the seed is not on the ground, they will flutter 
about the granary and even peck at our closed 
hand. Who shall say it is not their right? 
Whence comes the instinct of the bird, of the 
man? Larger barns have less warrant in the 
Gospel than larger doors for small barns. 

The Church is constantly calling for direct 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 269 

personal service. "With a definite work to do 
she summons us to thoughtful devotion. She 
asks of all men time and presence and effort. 
Would it not be as well for the Church to allow 
men to work by themselves, and to do good 
incidentally; if not by divine methods, yet by 
methods of their own ; if not in the field, yet along 
the wayside? I think that the Church will con- 
sent to this as soon as men in their usual occu- 
pations will agree to it ; when they will be satis- 
fied with the wayside results ; when they will 
build factories to support the workmen, and send 
out ships for the good of the sailors, and pursue 
their business in the interest of their clerks, and 
keep up their houses that the servants may have 
homes, and be satisfied though they get no other 
return for their investments ; when they will care 
nothing for the harvest, so that the birds are fed ; 
when it is a general benevolence and not a desire 
for a fair personal advantage which is the main- 
spring of their exertion ; and good done is held 
equivalent to gain secured; then, I think, the 
Church will be ready to have men spend their 
strength outside of her field, and do nothing in 
her pressing work ; to take what she can find as 
she waits by the wayside ; to receive the leisure 
moments, and the money which is not otherwise 
bestowed, and the thought which cannot be more 
pleasantly employed — content while she fails in 
her direct work, because she is doing good inci- 



270 CAMBBIDGE SERMONS. 

dentally. Till others agree to this method, she 
will continue to ask that religious service be made 
an essential part of the leading design of life. 

It is evident that if the wayside work is merely 
accidental, there is no merit in it. The birds are 
gainers, and the man a loser. If we have done things 
reluctantly, begrudging the fowls the seed they 
bore away, we have little right to congratulate 
ourselves upon that which has been accomplished. 
Still, there is pleasure in thinking that we have 
done good in spite of ourselves, and we may make 
the good our own by rejoicing in it after the deed. 
But what we ought to do is to take this wayside 
work into our original plan ; to mean to do good 
incidentally, beyond the main track of life. When 
we sow the fields for the harvest we ought to 
throw some seed to the birds, and to save seed 
and time for this. 

Thyself and thy belongings 
Are not thine own so proper, as to waste 
Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee. 
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, 
Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues 
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike 
As if we had them not. 

All things come in fittingly when the life is 
sound and true. The highest end a man can serve 
is to please God. To this he should be always 
and in all things devoted. He can do for himself 
and for men and birds nothing better than to 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 271 

please God. In his Providence every way has its 
wayside. If we cannot spend all our time in 
giving caps of water to the thirsty, and befriending 
the friendless, we can spend a part of our time in 
such employment. The Master gives us spare 
hours which belong in the very substance of our life, 
and are accepted by Him whose are the birds. In 
all the stress of common life we have now and 
then a holiday. It would indeed be hard if religion 
gave us no leisure for anything beyond saying our 
prayers and saving our souls. We shall do most for 
ourselves when we have others in our plans. There 
is nothing better for the poor than that our care for 
them lie within a purpose which moves on to him 
who was rich and for the poor's sake became poor. 

He has taught us usefulness as a vital part of 
piety. He has made us with different measures of 
ability that all kinds of good service may be done. 
Some have five talents and some one. This is not 
chance. In its own place the one is as five, for it 
is complete. Out of their place the five are as one. 

In some places the man of stout arm is better 
than he of strong brain. The owner of a thousand 
acres might not feed the birds so well as a farmer's 
boy. And the birds must be fed. So God makes 
farmers' boys. They may own the acres at last. 
The final honors and rewards will be properly 
bestowed. 

Spirits are not finely touched 
But to fine issues. 



272 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

He who in the parable did not count the hours 
of work when he paid the laborers may not make 
much account of talents in the last award. Every 
good and faithful servant shall be satisfied when 
he enters into the joy of his Lord. It is well to 
know what we can do best and are sent to do, and 
to do it willingly unto the Lord. When Brunelles- 
chi surprised and delighted his rival with, the 
crucifix which he had carved, Donatello frankly 
exclaimed, " I see truly that you are made for 
Christ's, and my art is fit for nothing more than 
peasants." The happy thing is, that both could 
work for Christ. 

It is essential that life be given to the noblest 
end ; man can do something better than to feed 
birds, or rather he can include that in a greater 
work. This he must do. Nothing is large enough 
for a man except religion. This contains virtue 
and the virtues. Love, not labor, is the fulfilling 
of the law. The faith which saves is a faith which 
works. We want the revolving wheel, but we 
want also the stream behind it and the loom before 
it. Religion moving the life to a holy end makes 
a manly character, which is free and eternal. 

Put the best seed in the best ground for Christ's 
sake — your best seed in your best ground — and 
the harvest will come, and there will be seed by 
the wayside for the birds. More will come to them, 
take the years together, than if you thought only 
of the birds, and'cast the seed only at the roadside. 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 273 

We must secure good seed, and sow it carefully, 
and gather in prudently, or soon there will be no 
grain for either man or bird. The best material 
for usefulness God furnishes to the obedient. We 
need broad and long views, if we are to do our 
work and bless the world. The greatest interest 
should not be forgotten because smaller ones are 
close at hand. It is neither just nor kind ; neither 
reverent nor benevolent. One of our wise men 
said in the college chapel, " My friends, as a gen- 
eral rule we are not wont to trifle with our important 
temporal interests ; let us not trifle with our moral 
and religious interests merely because they are 
eternal." We are able to bring to the illus- 
trating of this theme that life which here, with 
us, has fulfilled its course and met with its tran- 
sition. 

A good and useful man has been taken from 
us.* You will say that it is right to commend a 
career like his ; and the more fitting that it was 
not remote from the opportunities of other men. 
It is well that our young men should see the 
reward which crowns fidelity, honesty, industry, 
economy ; which from a small beginning makes a 
large ending. It is well that busy men should see 
how one can be very busy and very successful, 
and still maintain his interest in the church which 
holds his vows, and reserve time for its service of 
prayer and devout counsel. His works here were 

* Mr. E. T. Whitman. 



274 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

on a liberal scale, and stand conspicuous in the 
day long to be remembered within these gates, 
the day of our great rejoicing. The initials of his 
name are cut on yonder capital. Yet not in such 
special, deliberate acts of generosity only, but in the 
daily, unrecorded deeds which enrich a life, did he 
abound. With a wise foresight and a clear pur- 
pose, he cast good seed into good furrows, and the 
harvest came in a hundred-fold. But he never 
forgot the birds. The wayside was parallel to the 
furrows, and some seed fell there. For many a 
year the birds will sing sweetly above his grave. 
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these " — He did it to the least, and to 
the most. He rests; but his works follow in the 
path and along the wayside where he trod. " Be- 
hold a sower went forth to sow : Whatsoever a 
man soweth that shall he also reap." 

This parable of the sower our Lord applied to 
himself and his own work. " He that soweth the 
good seed is the Son of Man." His reference to the 
seed by the wayside was not directly for the pur- 
pose to which it has been applied this morning. 
Yet it was preeminently true of his life that it had 
its twofold influence, the direct and the incidental. 
He came with a large and divine intent ; with one 
work to be clone in one way. It was a very broad 
work. He filled all the land with blessing. He 
healed the sick and raised the dead. He taught 
the noblest principles of conduct and exemplified 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 075 

them in his own life. He sent the benison of his 
presence into countless homes, and gave his bene- 
diction to more children than he folded in his 
arms. He taught virtue to the world. He 
enriched humanity by his incarnation. The glis- 
tening of his garments has made the earth bright. 
"Take that name out of the world,'' said Theodore 
Parker, "that great character out of the world, and 
all its influence, and what should we be ? I speak 
within bounds when I say he has advanced the 
civilization of the world at least a thousand years."' 
He did more than that. He made our civilization, 
which before him gave no sign of even being. He 
makes everything live whither he comes. The 
blessings which crowd and crown our lives bear 
the image and superscription of the Christ. Do 
we think of it, that liberty and peace and home ; 
intelligence, manhood, happiness, are not Saxon, 
but Christian? 

Jerusalem is the mother of us all. Above Beth- 
lehem our fathers saw the great light. From the 
land in which the Christ lived, and taught, and 
wrought his miracles, and gave himself as the Re- 
deemer of men, has come the light which is light- 
ing the world. This is history. He who traces 
liberty and humanity to their birthplace comes to 
what was indeed the Land of Promise. The lan- 
guage of the prophet has been, is being, fulfilled 
in the advance of a- pure Christianity. "And it 
shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, 



276 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, 
shall live." The Christ made, and is making, into 
a living and divine reality, the words of the prophet 
which he read in the synagogue of Nazareth, with 
the spirit of the Lord upon him, and good tidings 
flowing from his lips. 

It might seem that this work was enough for the 
Son of Man. Let him accomplish this and receive 
the homage of the world ! But we know from his 
own lips that it was not for this he came into the 
world. This is the birds' portion ; the seed by the 
wayside. All this is within that which is greater. 
He came that men might have life, and have life 
more abundantly. He worked wonders, and his 
benign influence has never left the world. But his 
eye and his heart have been alwaj^s on something 
beyond. Standing among his miracles, he said : " I 
have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am 
I straitened till it be accomplished." It was to re- 
deem men that he came ; to give his life a ransom 
for many. " Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners." Prophets and apostles, men like 
Moses and Joshua, like Paul and John ; or if men 
failed, angels could have taught the world, set a 
pure example, made homes and schools and 
churches ; brought liberty and culture. This 
needed not the incarnation of God, the long humil- 
iation, the sacrifice on Calvary. Angels might 
bring down the celestial torches, and change night 
into day. But an archangel could not redeem a 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 271 

soul ; could not purchase pardon by the offering of 
himself; could not loose the bands of a double 
death, and open before the guilty the gates of im- 
mortality. An angel could teach men ; only 
Christ could die for men. Only he could be the 
Redeemer, the Saviour, the Mediator. For this 
he bowed the heavens and came down ; for this he 
walked the weary way to his cross and sepulchre. 
He fed the birds as he passed on ; but he passed 
on, for he had come to die, and he pressed forward 
to that. He began to tell his disciples that he 
should suffer and be killed, and one rebuked him : 
" Be it far from thee, Lord ; this shall not be 
unto thee." He turned to that man and said, 
" Get thee behind me, Satan : thou art an offence 
unto me : for thou savorest not the things that be 
of God/' 

The thought, the love, the sacrifice, blessed men 
here, but ran far out through the world and beyond 
it; beyond the bounds of time ; beyond the burn- 
ing of the earth, and the flaming heavens shrivel- 
ing "like a parched scroll ; " into the new heaven 
and the new earth, and adown the endless ages ; 
and the blessings which he came to make for men, 
beginning here, were to be there forever. This is 
the work of Christ in the world : this eternal re- 
demption, the bestowment of unceasing mercies 
upon men, by his grace the sons and heirs of God. 

It is in comparison to this, the real intent, 
the grand accomplishment, that his other work, 



278 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

magnificent and gracious as it is, beyond all 
men's, I have ventured to call incidental, ser- 
vice by the way, the feeding of the birds. And 
I believe that in saying this I have the mind of 
Christ. One thing is certain, that what he 
enjoined upon us especially to remember, and 
even embodied in a sacrament that we might keep 
it in constant and clear remembrance, was — not 
his miracles, his teachings, his example ; but this 
— his redemption of the world by the offering up of 
himself, the Lamb of God. We treasure his words, 
and we repeat his life ; but he said, " Except ye 
eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, 
ye have no life in you." 

I might leave this subject to suggest its own 
lessons. Yet suffer me to call to your mind two 
practical thoughts : The first is, that we must be 
careful fully to teach the reality of his work. His 
one work, his inclusive work, we must show to 
men. We must constantly keep in mind for what 
he came into the world. All that was related to 
this should be taught so far as we have oppor- 
tunity ; but the chief work must be told, illus- 
trated, enforced, till it becomes a part of the life 
and character which we are shaping. The geog- 
raphy of Palestine is of small account unless we 
become followers of Him who brightened snowy 
Hermon with his presence, honored Nazareth and 
Capernaum by his residence, hallowed Bethlehem 
and Bethany, and was at Jerusalem one greater 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 279 

than the Temple. The miracles of Christ have but a 
transient use unless through them we see him who 
by these signs showed Himself able to do greater 
things ; who is himself the wonder of the ages ; in 
whose works among men there is no marvel equal 
to his incarnation and resurrection ; no might to be 
compared with the strength of his love. We 
shall repeat his precepts and enjoin obedience. 
We shall describe the beauty and purity of his 
life, till words fail us. We shall say that life is to 
be saved by losing it, and that our highest honor 
is in ministering to others. While time lasts we 
shall repeat these things. When philosophy has 
grown weary of teaching virtue, the Church will 
continue her lessons, ceasing not before Christ 
comes again. But in all this we have not taught 
Christ himself. He was more than this. He did 
more than this. He is the Saviour, and it is Christ 
the Saviour whom we must see and show. It is 
faith in him, and love for him, which we must 
enjoin, and the life lived by faith and love. 

Let me take counsel with you, for you know 
men. I never speak to a man who is not before 
long to quit the world and find the judgment. 
What shall I say to men ? Is it incidental or essen- 
tial mercy which will serve them now and to the 
end? Sometimes the issue is imminent. I 
stand at the bedside of a dying man. His min- 
utes are few, and the minister's words must be 
brief. They must be true words, fitly spoken. 



280 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

The fading tapestry of a human life needs apples 
of gold. Shall I read the Sermon on the Mount 
to his cold, dull ears, or answer the pleading of 
his eyes with maxims of morality ? Should I not 
rather follow the divine example, and turn the 
anxious gaze to God in penitence and love, putting 
upon his faltering lips the cry of his brother pub- 
lican — " God be merciful " — "be merciful to me?" 
Should I not teach him another prayer, which 
brought its answer of mercy — " Lord remember 
me ? " From the broken and contrite heart let these 
petitions rise, with mind and heart clinging to him 
who taught them to men. If he is saved it is 
Christ himself who saves him ; who died for him 
— died for him. 

The man who suffered at our Saviour's side, who 
from the cross followed him that day into Para- 
dise, had heard little in his wild career of the 
teachings of Jesus, so pure and blessed ; had seen, 
it may be, not one of his works of mercy ; but in 
that awful moment he saw Christ ; he knew his 
righteousness; he proclaimed his royalty; he com- 
mitted himself to him; he lifted up his voice in 
confession, — and it was the only voice there which 
did confess him, — and the lost sheep, bruised, and 
torn, and bleeding, died on the Shepherd's shoulder 
and found life. The Christ whom he knew, and the 
Christ whom he trusted, the Christ who saved, 
was in literal truth Christ crucified. Wherever 
this Gospel is preached, and this story is told of a 



THE WAYSIDE SEED. 281 

man who was saved, the world will see that it was 
Christ on the cross who saved ; it was the hands 
that were made strong by the nails which opened 
the celestial gates to a ransomed soul, who fled 
from the body of death into the embrace of life. 
The other thought is kindred to this. We are to 
have the man's portion of Christ's words; not the 
birds' alone. The incidental benefits of our Lord's 
life are too great for us ; are not great enough for 
us, seeing that he is Christ. It is not the desert 
of the receiver, but the grace of the giver, which 
makes the gift. We should be grateful for the 
crumbs ; yet he calls us to the feast. We are not 
birds who must needs take what we chance to find, 
but God's children, in his house,, in his love, way- 
ward and hungry, but his children still ; and we 
can choose and take his best gifts. If we open 
our heart under the sower's hand the choicest 
wheat will fall and keep falling upon us. The 
wisdom of Christ was great in his parables ; it was 
at its height in his death. His power was won- 
derful in his miracles ; it was at its best in his 
crucifixion. His grace was large in his patience, 
his comfort, his sympathy^ his help. It was 
boundless when he gave himself to the cross for 
our sake. We can have him at his best ; his 
wisest wisdom, his strongest strength, his divin- 
est grace. The larger holds the large ; Christ 
redeeming is Christ teaching, healing, blessing, 
enlarged. We can have the best and the whole, 



282 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



the Christ who is enthroned above, the temple and 
the light of heaven ; the royal Lamb, the Redeemer- 
King. To Him must we look; to the real Saviour, 
as he really saves. When we have found him we 
have found life. From the good ground we are 
shall spring up the good seed he sows, and our life 
shall be fruitful; a delight to us, a gladness to the 
world, a glory to him. 

Thus once again the sower sows the seed. May 
the birds be the richer for it — the birds and the 
men. 



XV. 
TRUTH COMMENDING ITSELF. 



Scriptuke Lesson : I. Cor. i: 17-31. 

Text : By manifestation of the truth commending ourselves 
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. II. Cor. iv: 2. 

THIS was a noble confidence. It was a personal 
confidence. This man, called to do a work 
which before his time had not been done in the 
world, had that assurance which comes from the be- 
lief that one is doing the will of God, and the addi- 
tional conviction that he is also approving himself 
to men ; that he is not only serving God, but serv- 
ing men ; that he has the commendation of every 
man's conscience, when that conscience is in the 
presence of God. Manifestly it was upon this that 
this man must rely in his work. He could not 
compel men , he had no devices by which he could 
attract them. He could simply tell them the truth 
as it was committed to him. If it did not com- 
mend itself to their consciences, it was spoken in 
vain. If he had been willing by any other meth- 
ods to attract them — for doubtless he might have 

2S3 



284 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

gathered a school if he would, and have gained 
many followers — still he would not have accom- 
plished his purpose unless he had gained the con- 
science of those whom he taught, because his work 
must needs be done in the hearts of men, where 
their motives, and purposes, and character are made 
up. 

The apostle is speaking here in words of great 
strength, which suggest two lines of commenda- 
tion. In the first place, the gospel itself, the sub- 
stance of it, commends itself to every man's con- 
science. Secondly, in its method, in the manner 
of its presentation, the gospel commends itself to 
the consciences of men. It is upon this latter fact 
rather than upon the former, that I shall speak 
to you this morning ; that the method of the gos- 
pel commends itself to every man's" conscience, 
when that conscience is face to face with God. 

There are three grand words here, around which 
the life of this man formed itself. God, con- 
science, truth; God above, conscience within, truth 
between, touching God on the upper side of it ; 
touching man on the lower side of it, and 
in this trinity of God, conscience, truth, God's 
purposes are accomplished in the world, and man's 
redemption is secured. 

What do we mean by the gospel ? It is briefly 
expressed in that evangel which lies within the 
evangel : " God so loved the world that he gave his 
Son." Upon this our faith and our preaching rest. 



TRUTH COMMENDING ITSELF. 285 

The design of the gospel is so to control men's 
lives and thoughts that they shall be in right 
relations with God; that it shall be as true 
that they are God's children as that he is 
their father ; that they shall be loving and 
obedient children, and shall receive his continual 
care and all the blessings of his affection ; and the 
manner in which this truth comes to us commends 
itself to the conscience of men. 

Let me ask you, then, to notice these things. In 
the first place, if there be any such gospel as this, 
manifestly the very first thing in it — that which 
cannot be left out, that which cannot be changed 
though ever}'thing else were changed — the first 
thing is that the gospel shall be from God. It is 
grace, God's grace ; it is forgiveness, God's for- 
giveness. It is the restoration to right relations 
with God, and these God must determine ; it is the 
entrance of man into God's house and into his 
heart. Evidently, then, the gospel must be divine ; 
it must come from above. However much men 
may think, and desire, and believe, nothing has 
any authority until God gives it. The common 
word " testament " carries this idea. A testament 
is a will. The value of the will is in the signature. 
It may be drawn b}^ the best lawyer in the land ; 
it may be filled with the most generous and judi- 
cious provisions ; it may be engrossed upon the 
finest parchment by the most skilful penman in 
the world ; yet it is only worth so much as the 



286 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

bare parchment is worth until the man who owns 
the property signs it. It is so with this New 
Testament. St. Paul could not make it ; no man, 
not all men together, could make it; the thoughts 
of men are not to be trusted, until God, with his 
own hand, writes his name. This should be clearly 
understood, because so often men think that they 
can make a gospel ; that they can reason it out, or 
that it can spring up within them. We can deter- 
mine the kind of will our rich neighbor ought to 
make, but he does not always make the sort of 
will we should have written. God makes his own 
testament, and not until he signs it is it a testa- 
ment. 

Then, again, it must have its human side. If 
this is the redemption of men, it must come to 
men ; it must enter into them and be wrought out 
among them. We can see how fitting and neces- 
sary it is that there should be one among men, 
having their form and estate, living before them 
the life that God's children ought to lead; 
illustrating his righteousness, declaring his grace, 
and proving its power and simplicity in his own 
open experience. We are convinced that the 
gospel must have its human as well as its divine 
side. 

I do not know that we should have thought this 
out, yet it seems probable that we should have 
planned it somewhat in this way, because these 
two ideas have entered into the religious thought 



TRUTH COMMENDING ITSELF. 287 

of different natures. They have believed that God 
has come down among men, and has lived and 
worked in human form. This gospel which St. 
Paul preached is divine ; the word that was in the 
beginning with God and was God, has made it and 
taught it. It is human ; the divine word was 
made flesh and dwelt among men, and we have 
seen his glory . Must a gospel be divine ? Christ 
is divine. Must a gospel be human ? Christ is 
human. To create and bestow the gospel God 
was manifest in the flesh. In this the gospel com- 
mends itself to us. 

But passing from this, it is reasonable to expect 
that a gospel coming to men will be preached by 
men ; that it will not be written upon the heavens, 
or declared by mystic signs among the stars. God 
works by men. Every nation has its prophet. 
It seems to be one of the primal and essential 
thoughts of men that if God ever speaks to the 
world, he will speak by men. Hence when this 
gospel comes by men it uses the most natural 
method. The most simple way in which God can 
speak to the world, is by speaking to certain men 
and letting them utter the truth to the nations. 
That is the method of the gospel. If we take the 
life of that apostle who more than any other has 
been the minister of God's gospel to the world, we 
see how this truth is fulfilled, so that the life of 
St. Paul may be considered a part of the method 
of the gospel. 



288 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

If you examine the life of this man you will 
see how wonderfully suited he was to this work. 
He belonged in the world. He had a rare advan- 
tage in that he was of Hebrew parentage while he 
was a Koman citizen. He was not born in Italy 
nor in Palestine, but between the two, in the 
Asiatic province of Cilicia. He was a man of 
great ability ; a man of learning, trained in all 
which the schools of Tarsus could teach him, and 
in that special instruction which was given at 
Jerusalem. A man of great sincerity and fidelity ; 
of great independence and generosity; a man 
just and faithful, disposed to give himself in all 
sacrifice and devotion for men i tender, tearful — 
the tears of St. Paul, which he confesses, are one 
of his marked characteristics — a man of patriot- 
ism, with an unchanging attachment to his own 
people*, thoroughly, at first narrowly, religious and 
determined to have a conscience void of offence in 
the sight of God and men. 

This is the man who comes to us with the gos- 
pel of God , a man who stood so near to Christ 
and those who were the closest to him, that he 
could almost hear his words as they were spoken. 
A man who had come into this truth by a pro- 
found personal experience ; who was not called 
upon to give to others that which he had not felt 
himself. He came through that humbling way by 
which publicans must come, tearing himself from 
the associations and hopes of his life, and giving 



TRUTH COIHIENDING ITSELF 059 

himself up to one who had no renown, and upon 
whose cross there rested not that glory, which, 
looking back, we uoav can discern. 

This man, with these personal traits, and this 
personal experience, went to Corinth, and is going 
through the world, declaring the truths of the gos- 
pel of Christ. I do not say that the gospel is true 
because St. Paul preached it, but I do say that it 
is a very strong testimony to the truth of the gos- 
pel that St. Paul believed it. The man gives weight 
to his belief. The value and. the validity of a law- 
yer's, a physician's, a philosopher's, a mechanic's 
judgment depends greatly upon the character and 
knowledge of the man. This man, in all the 
strength and sublimity and simplicity of his char- 
acter, stands forth as a personal witness to a gos- 
pel which had satisfied his conscience, had met 
the wants of his life, had rewarded him for his 
sacrifice, had given him assurance in his work,and 
fortitude and cheerfulness in imprisonment and 
under the shadow of a cruel death. 

Thus the gospel, coming to us with its divine 
and human character, and coming to us in this 
personal method, commends itself to every man's 
conscience. 

I might add to this the lives of the other apos- 
tles, who were men standing near to Christ and 
who received the gospel in such a way that it 
changed their life, and made them give their 
testimony to its truth, even in loss and death. I 



290 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

might bring to your notice the list of men in later 
times — wise and saintly men ; confessors and 
martyrs — who have taken this truth to prove it 
under all varieties and conditions of life, and who, 
having satisfied themselves of its power, have 
become the ministers of it to others. 

I might present to you the long catalogue of 
the noble and the good, the wise and the brave ; 
the men who have done most to dignify and 
ennoble humanity ; men whose lives for purity 
never have been exceeded, whose spirit for nobil- 
ity never has been excelled ; who confess before us 
that the gospel meets all the requirements of their 
nature, and enables them cheerfully to become its 
witnesses to the conscience of men through all the 
world. But upon this I cannot dwell. 

Let me ask you to notice, in the third place, 
that this gospel comes to us — it is a part of the 
method of it — not imposing upon us a bald 
authority, silencing our questions, bidding us com- 
mit ourselves blindly to a wisdom which is above 
us. It comes answering our questions ; even start- 
ing new questions, that may it answer them. It does 
not say of any anxious inquiry of the soul, " This 
is not for you to know , this is for your masters, 
and for the priests." It solves questions of pro- 
found import which are answered nowhere else. 
We stand among mysteries, are full of inquir- 
ies. A man's relation to God, a man's duty, the 
way of restoration to God which shall give him 



TRUTH COMMENDING ITSELF. 291 

peace and assurance ; a man's destiny and the way 
to make that destiny blessed — upon these themes 
the world has no clear voice, save where the gos- 
pel is preached. I wander from man to man 
with the serious thoughts which come to me, as I 
know that in a few years, at the most, I shall 
go hence. But no man tells me anything much 
better than I have thought out by myself. I 
stand among the open graves of your households, 
to hear you ask, " What is there beyond ? " And 
all the schools are silent ; the oracles are dumb. 
We utter our hope through our tears ; the un- 
taught centuries have added nothing to the 
human hopes. Knowledge was never so great as 
to-day ; the pursuit of knowledge was never so 
vigorous ; but all the study has not added a sylla- 
ble which answers the questions which we must 
have answered; for whose answer we would be 
willing to deny ourselves much which men call 
knowledge. 

This silence is significant when knowledge is so 
vast and is growing on every hand. Men are 
bringing the heavens down to the earth, and walk- 
ing along their streets they are wakening the strong 
forces of forgotten generations, and their life flies 
through the air and swims through the sea as if it 
had not been dead for ages. Men are studying 
their own thoughts, and philosophy was never so 
venturesome, perhaps never so wise, as it is to-day. 
I can know almost anything that I want to know. 



292 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Nothing is so distant in space or so remote in time 
that I may not hope to know of it all which I need 
to know. With this knowledge rising about my 
feet, until I am half drowned with the mere names 
of the topics which it presents to me, I ask if 
there is nothing to be known of the things which 
are most important. I go through the libraries 
from shelf to shelf, from book to book, and they 
tell me almost everything but that which I must 
know. I press my inquiries and beg for a reply, 
and the wise men say, " We will teach you every- 
thing else ; we will tell you what you sprung from ; 
we will analyze your character ; we will break the 
light into fragments and lay the stars as a glitter- 
ing dust at your feet ; but your duty you cannot 
know; your relation to God you cannot know; 
what comes after death you cannot know; the way 
of bringing peace to your conscience and right- 
eousness to your life you cannot know." I say 
that we can knoiv. In the name of growing, star- 
eyed science, we can know. In the name of four- 
teen hundred students in our university, we can 
know. In the name of our vast libraries, our bold 
search for truth, our accumulated, teeming, and 
overwhelming knowledge of everything else, we 
can know, I know that I can know. God, duty, 
life, destiny — I am sure that I can know them? 
and I find the knowledge in this gospel of God, 
which answers the questions Avith a voice that does 
not tremble ; which gratifies this longing of the 



TRUTH COMMENDING ITSELF. 293 

heart to whom these are the real, the practical 
things of life ; and because the gospel comes to 
me doing what must be done, telling what I must 
know, supplementing all the growing knowledge 
of the world, it commends itself to my conscience 
in the sight of God. My conscience says that I 
can know my duty and my destiny. The world 
says, " We cannot tell you your duty nor }'our 
destiny." The gospel says, " I tell you your duty 
and your destiny ; " and my conscience smiles 
upon the revelation and glories in it. 

In its rational method the gospel commends 
itself to the conscience. It addresses itself at once 
fcrthe spirit. It recognizes the spiritual nature 
of man. That grand sentence, almost the grandest 
sentence in the Bible, which our Saviour uttered 
at the well of Samaria, when he said, " God is a 
spirit," finds its counterpart in another truth im- 
plied all through the Scriptures. It might be 
rendered in this way : Man is a spirit, and they 
that help him must help him in spirit and in truth. 
Some persons, claiming our respect, say, man is a 
spirit, and they that help him must build him a 
better house ; they must give him a better social 
estate ; they must provide a better govern- 
ment ; they must invent a new kind of sepulchre. 
But the gospel is better ; it goes directly to 
the spirit of man. That word " conscience " 
itself is a witness. What other system of 
religion clearly pronounces the word? What 



294 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

system of learning speaks the word " conscience " 
except as it takes it from the gospel ? To the 
reason, to the affections, to the will — that is, to 
the man himself, Scripture appeals. It flashes no 
sword ; it stretches out no sceptre ; it paints no 
picture ; it sings no song ; it raises no glittering 
pageant which may delight and bewilder. It 
comes with the simple truth to the reason and 
heart of man. You may hear this truth of God in 
the stateliest cathedral with all the accompani- 
ments of architecture and music. You may hear 
it in the camp of the soldier. The sailor may read 
it in his forecastle. The wrecked mariner may 
recall it upon the ocean rock. The prisoner may 
remember it in the dungeon. The dying man may 
catch its words from the scroll at the foot of his 
bed. You may not have the book ; you may recall 
but a single chapter, a single sentence of it ; and 
that sentence in its witness to God, and duty, and 
truth, and redemption, shall be enough to save a 
man into a righteous life and to give him a glorious 
hope. In this independence of all things that are 
without; in this method of finding no heart in our 
solitude, the gospel commends itself. When you 
want to think well on a subject, you wish to be 
alone. You do not ask the architect to make a 
cathedral so great that its inspiration shall help 
you in your hard thinking. You do not ask the 
singers to sing to you a song that shall bring to you 
a better revelation of your duty in some practical 



TRUTH COMMENDING ITSELF. 295 

matter of daily life. You say, leave me alone. 
Our best thinking, I suppose, is clone when the 
lights are out and the city around us is still. If I 
am to think upon my duty, I want to think in 
silence. My reason must be quick ; my conscience 
must waken; I must not be disturbed; the truth 
must come to me in such a form that I can take 
and hold it in my mind without a book, and pon- 
der it without a preacher. This gospel which 
brings itself so quietly to my solitude, commends 
itself to me. If we cannot be saved until we have 
trodden the temples of the old world ; if we cannot 
be saved until the most majestic music bears our 
worship to the skies, there is little hope for us. 
But a gospel which you can teach your children, 
which you can repeat to yourselves as you walk 
the streets, which in the sanctity and repose of 
your own minds you can dwell upon and work into 
your life, is a gospel which commends itself to 
the good sense of a man in the sight of God. All 
the record is open ; the Church has not a single 
secret ; we keep nothing back ; we tell the whole 
that is given to us for our guidance, and we 
pray men to search the Scriptures, that they may 
determine whether their gospel commends itself to 
every man's conscience in the sight of God. 

The gospel comes to us in this way to give us a 
standard of life. It does not leave us to evolve 
out of our own consciousness the principles of 
duty. It sets before us a rule; an ideal to which 



296 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

we are to attain. It honors conscience in doing 
this. It honors conscience, again,, because it does 
not give to us the details of life. It would sim- 
plify duty if a few volumes not much larger than 
this Bible were written, in which all things that 
men are likely to think of doing could be cata- 
logued, and numbered, and classified, so that the 
glance of the eye would show us what to do. 

How simple a thing it would be in the practical 
questions of ethics, for one to turn to the book, and 
find the column over which is written the name of 
that which he is thinking about, and then find at 
once whether it is right for him to do it or not ! 
Now, the gospel pursues a different method. It 
gives to us certain principles which respect our 
conscience and our reason ; and it leaves reason to 
judge of these things and to apply them. It 
leaves conscience to determine how this law 
shall be laid upon our life. Conscience likes this 
treatment. A man wants to be out of leading 
strings. We like to think that God has given us 
a real liberty, and that he has not told us in pre- 
cise and minute terms what we are to do between 
twelve and one o'clock to-day, and between one 
and two o'clock to-morrow; that he lets us de- 
cide these matters for ourselves. Conscience likes 
this, and approves the gospel which leaves to it 
its proper work. But the gospel gives to us 
certain general maxims, and these conscience 
approves. I need not repeat them now. One 



TEUTII COMMENDING ITSELF. 297 

or two of them I may mention : " Whatsoever 
a man soweth, that shall he also reap," which is 
one of the fundamental principles of the gospel. 
Every man says that is right. " He that soweth 
bountifully shall reap also bountifully ; and he 
that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly." 
And this: "Every man shall give account of 
himself to God." And this : " It is more blessed 
to give than to receive." I might enlarge the 
list; I think that every one of them commends 
itself to us. We desire to have every one of them 
applied by our neighbors, and sometimes consent 
that they should be applied by ourselves. And if 
there be any rules which seem to reach above us 
to-day, we remember that we are going on into a 
world where these same relations are to hold good. 
The Sermon on the Mount, in its essential prin- 
ciples, is as true in heaven as it is upon earth, 
and will always be true. If we cannot come to 
the mastery of all its rules to-day, perhaps we can 
to-morrow. 

Then, again, in laying down certain principles 
which are to govern our life, the gospel enjoins 
duties which human commandments could not 
require. No commandment could require 3*011 to 
love your child. It could prevent your abuse of 
him ; it could require you to instruct him ; but it 
could not require you to love him. Xo statute 
could make you forgive a man who had wronged 
you. It could prevent your striking him, perhaps, 



298 



CAMBRIDGE SER310NS. 



but the gospel enjoins love and forgiveness. God 
administers the gospel upon principles of equity, 
which are beyond statutes ; and in doing this it 
commends itself to our conscience. 

But advancing once more, the gospel commends 
itself to a man's conscience by the way in which it 
regards a man. We are sensitive, and we ought to 
be. The gospel treats a man with respect. I 
should like to repeat that, because this method is 
not always followed : The gospel treats manhood 
with great respect. It does not try to drive him ; 
it does not scold him ; it does not denounce him 
and call him by opprobrious epithets. It never 
once forgets that a man is a child of God ; it never 
overlooks the fact that a man is to live forever. 
It finds the column of the temple lying in the dust 
and the sand driven over it. But it does not call 
it rubbish ; it calls it a column ; a fallen column. 
It rebuilds the temple out of this single shaft ; it 
marks the beauty of the material, the sublimity of 
the proportions, the very carving and tracery of 
the shattered capital, and seeks to raise it up and 
to construct a house around it. The gospel speaks 
of man as fallen ; but it is man who has fallen ; and 
fallen man has conscience, and reason, and will, and 
the love of God, and the endless } r ears. It calls 
man dead in trepasses and sins ; but it offers to 
this man eternal life. It pronounces him guilty ; 
it proffers to him righteousness. I ask you if all 
the books of men treat our common manhood with 



TRUTH COMMENDING ITSELF. 299 

that respect and dignity with which the gospel 
always treats it. 

Then it deals impartially with us ; it makes no 
account of race, or class, or estate. It treats ever}- 
man in his own personality. It never confuses 
men one with another. It respects conscience 
with such decrees as this: "Who art thou that 
judgest another man's servant? To his own mas- 
ter he standeth or falleth." We like that sentence. 
We are glad to know that when we stand before 
God we shall not be judged for the deeds of our 
ancestors, or the deeds of our neighbors. Only my 
own life have I to answer for. For its short- 
comings I must be judged; for its repentance I 
may be accepted. Solitary and alone a man may 
be in his piety, but he shall have that piety re- 
membered in the Day. Independent individual, 
free, with his freedom always kept in mind, the 
man is judged by the law of liberty. I know that 
I do what I choose to do ; I feel that it is right 
that God should judge me by that which I choose 
to do. It is a cardinal principle of the gospel, and 
conscience pronounces it just. Indeed, conscience 
wanders along these lines of divine truth, and 
pausing at every sentence, gives its approval : 
" That is right ; that is just ; that is true." From 
first to last the principles of God's government, 
the principles of God's grace, are just. If I fall 
beneath them, they are just. If, to give 
account of the deeds which I am doing is my ruin, 



300 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



it is just that I should give an account of the 
deeds which I am doing. The work of the gospel 
is thorough upon both sides ; thorough upon the 
side of its law, its assertion of principle; thorough 
upon that which it calls us to do. It respects man 
by making man to bear his part in the work of his 
own redemption. Redemption is a common word 
in the Scriptures, but it is not more common than 
repentance. We are told that we have gone away 
from God. We are told of the regeneration of 
God's Spirit ; but we are bidden to make to our- 
selves a new heart and a new spirit. We are told 
of Christ's salvation, but not as if we were to be 
driven into Paradise because Christ has died. It 
is as thorough upon this side when it says, " Work 
out your own salvation, for it is God which 
worketh in you." The gospel which brings to me 
the assured truth of God and the assured 
truth of my own life and duty, commends 
itself to my conscience. I believe, if I am 
saved, it is because of Christ's redemption ; 
I believe, if I am saved by Christ's redemption, it 
is because I repent of my sins and trust him. I 
believe that I have the salvation of Christ ; I be- 
lieve that I must work out my own salvation. And 
it is in this thoroughness, this breadth, this large- 
ness of its assertion, that the gospel commends 
itself to the conscience of a thoughtful man. 

Brethren, there are many more things which 
might be presented, upon which I cannot detain 



TRUTH COMMENDING ITSELF. 301 

you now. If this which I have said is true, it will 
be found true when you have gone to your homes, 
and when you think upon it by the way. If the 
gospel is that which St. Paul claimed it to be, it 
will commend itself to your conscience. I do not 
know what you will do with it. You may not sub- 
mit your life to it; you may disown it; you may 
reject its duties and its graces. But if it is God's 
gospel, your conscience will say that it is right. 
So kind is it, so helpful, speaking great words of 
us, and starting great hopes for us. How it raises 
us up, and makes our manhood vast and eternal, 
and brings to us the beginning of an endless des- 
tiny, whose glories we can only dimly see while 
upon their shadowy confines we are waiting. 
Brethren, I cannot answer for you; you do not 
need it, nor wish it. A man must be the judge 
for himself. One thing I know : It is no hasty 
thought; it is no narrow opinion, after a brief, 
contracted, uneventful experience. One thing I 
know : that the gospel of Christ commends itself 
to my conscience as I stand here in the sight of 
God. I could not describe myself so well as the 
Bible has described me. No one will ever care to 
write the story of my life ; but no man ever could 
write it as it is written here. I have lived through 
almost all the Bible, and the rest is not far dis- 
tant. It tells the truth about me ; it answers 
every question I ask which is of great account ; 
it satisfies the longings which I have to know; it 



302 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



gives me wise counsel for my duty. I never yet 
have been sorry when I have done as it told me ; 
I have been sorry a thousand times when I have 
not obeyed it. In my most quiet hours, in the 
hours when I have seen my kindred fall into the 
grave, in view of all that is before me, I have 
found it true. I say here in the sight of Al- 
mighty God, my conscience is satisfied with the 
gospel of Christ. 



XVI. 

THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 

[Preached at Wellesley College.] 



Scripture Lesson : Hebrews vii: 16. 

Text : Who is made, not after the law of a carnal command- 
ment, hut after the power of an endless life. Hebrews vii: 16. 

THIS was said of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
When he came into the world to be our 
great High Priest, he did not make up his life after 
an earthly standard, suiting himself to the priest- 
hood, and the priestly service, and the fashion of 
things which he found among men ; but he had 
regard to that which was permanent, and set his 
life into endless proportions. He did not adapt 
himself to Solomon's temple, but to the temple's 
Solomon. He knew that in a few years the 
temple and the city which it adorned would be 
removed. Men were to be independent of place 
and time, and were to worship God in spirit and 
in truth. The worship was to be forever. He 
saw the endless life of man, and in all his plan 
and work addressed himself to this, and made 

303 



304 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



up his purposes and gave himself to the world 
as its Redeemer, after the power of an endless 
life. It behooved him to do tills because the life 
of man is endless. That which is limited in its 
ability and design cannot meet the requirements 
of one whose years are boundless. He needs an 
" eternal redemption " and an " everlasting gos- 
pel." He has all which he needs in the power 
of the endless life of Christ. 

There is a profound and practical truth here 
for our own governance. Man is to make up his 
thought and plan, his purpose and will, and to do 
his work, not by the law of that which is tran- 
sient, but by the power of that which is eternal. 
He has an endless life, and in the sight of that 
fact he is to live. He is not to fit himself to a 
world which he will presently desert, or to adopt 
the maxims and methods of a temporary system, 
or to set a limit to his years, and mistake a change 
of his place for a change of himself. He is to 
have it constantly in mind that he is to live for 
uncounted years, and to govern himself in accord- 
ance with this reality. Not a carnal, earthly, 
perishing commandment, but the power of an 
endless, life, is to rule his intent and his deed. 

I do not know where these things could be said 
more fittingly than here. We read the lesson a 
few months ago in connection with the birthday 
of the man who founded this college. We read it 
again on the first anniversary of his translation. 



THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 305 

This is his real birthday, so he would have said. 
It is this which we are taught in the Xew Testa- 
ment, where small account is made of our entrance 
into this world, and little is said of that which we 
call death, with the knell, the pall, the bier ; but 
the great event is the going on to Christ when his 
prayer is answered : " Father, I will that they also 
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am." 
It is rather the beginnino; than the ending of a life 
which is in our minds to-night. He was not plan- 
ning for the years during which he might continue 
here. He cast his work far in advance. He made 
it a part of an endless plan. He knew that he 
was to be, not for seventy years, but for sevent}* - 
thousand years, and he measured his purposes by 
that standard. He began a work which was to 
endure. To erect buildings was merely incidental to 
his design. He proposed to build characters. He 
formed a home and a school for those who were to 
live through the ages, and he arranged the institu- 
tion around that idea. He brought together teachers 
who could instruct in the principles of everlasting 
life, and offered to the scholars wisdom which they 
could use at once, and use forever. The course of 
study covers seventy thousand years, and more. 
The buildings will fall, the earth itself will pass 
away, but the lessons will last. Truth is not held 
to times and things. This He knew well. It 
entered into his own life. He meant to have it 
enter the lives of others. In this stands the high 



306 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

renown of his purpose. He was wise when he 
invested his endless thought in an endless school. 
It remains to have this purpose recognized and 
fulfilled by all who enter these gates bringing in 
their endless years, that they may be inspired and 
controlled by the power of an endless life. 

There is but one life in the world — it is the life 
of God. In him all life has its beings. The life 
of man is at the first in the eternal purpose of the 
Creator. By that purpose man comes into his 
personal being Every one's genealogy ends like 
that given by St. Luke : " Which was the son of 
Adam, which was the son of God." A man is an 
eternal thought incarnate. The artist's thought 
precedes the picture and the song. This is after 
the pattern. One is " before all things, and in 
him all things consist." Endless life in God is 
a life of will and purpose. The true life of man 
contains the same will and intention. " Thy will 
be done," is not designed as an afterthought, but 
as the primal desire of the man. If he sets him- 
self against God's purposes, he will be destroyed. 
If he attempts to stand still before them, he will 
be overwhelmed. If he makes his own purpose 
move on with them, he will have a prosperous 
career and an everlasting reward. The pagan likes 
to think of his divinities in repose. Jesus said, 
" My Father worketh even until now, and I work." 
He was able to say at length, " I glorified Thee on 
the earth, having accomplished the work which 



THE PO WER OF AN EXDLESS LIFE. 307 

Thou hast given me to do." "We are to do our 
work, changing the thought of God into word and 
deed. It is in this that we have failed. The re- 
sult is not measured bv earthlv years. To bring 
ns into our place, to establish us in righteous lives, 
and make our being a blessing, the Christ lias 
come and given himself for us. Henceforth we are 
to be followers of him, in the power of an endless 
life. Our thought for ourselves is to rise into 
Christ's thought for us. 

Let us notice some things which will result from 
the persistent thought of our endless life. 

I. It will give us a calmness of spirit and behav- 
ior. The work of the world is not all on us. The 
Lord reigns. We have our part of his will to do, and 
only that. There are many others who are work- 
ing on the same plan. We begin our part of the 
work, but not the work itself. That begins in 
God. It is only our part which we end when we 
end anything; when we seem to leave our work 
that we may go hence. Oftentimes we see those 
into whose labors we are entering, with whom we 
shall rejoice in the harvest of our common life. We 
can often appoint those who shall carry forward our 
endeavor. We can train children and scholars to 
take our place. Moses was permitted to intrust 
his work to his' friend Joshua. He could do this 
with great assurance because he knew the man. 
He could do it with joy, if he knew himself and 
the events before him. He was buried in a valley 



308 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



iii the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor, and 
no man knew his sepulchre. Fifteen centuries 
went by, and again he was seen of men among 
the cliffs of Horeb, still engaged in his old work 
which was far advanced, when he talked with the 
Lord " of his decease which he was about to ac- 
complish at Jerusalem." The passion of the soul 
may well be stilled when a man sees his centuries 
before him, and beholds the grandeur of his life. 
He will feel that he has time enough for all which 
he must do. Days are as many and as long as 
duties. He moves steadily forward, and finds 
that, if his wishes outgrow his time, his duty is 
well clothed upon. One of the wisest of our 
preachers and philosophers, whose life had been 
full of enterprise and rich in accomplishment, when 
he was near the change in his career, so that he 
could review his hurried past and look down the 
serene path before him, said, u If I had 1113^ life to 
live over again I would not push." There is little 
need of competition, and jealousy and jostling, 
when a man has endless years for his own, and 
with all other good men, is working out God's 



thought. 



All our bustling morrows only make 
The smooth to-day of God. 



In the thought of his endless life he has comfort 
in his weariness and pain. Rest is coming. The 
good man's trouble is short-lived. 



THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 309 

The morning's joy shall end the night of weeping, 
And life's long shadows break in cloudless sun. 

Men may have killed his body, but after that 
they have no more which they can do. He escapes 
their hand, and from the heights looks down on 
their baffled rage. This independence which be- 
longs with immortality is rich in consolation. It 
gives courage and patience and triumph. No 
wonder martyrs sing at the stake, rejoicing that 
they are " counted worthy to suffer dishonor for 
the name." They know what is before them. It 
was not Wickliffe, but the dust he had worn, 
which went by the Avon and the Severn to the 
sea. 

A man can bear all things which have a speedy 
end. He should be master of himself and of the 
world. It is a small matter that he is obscure 
and has no honor of his fellows; that he holds no 
land in the country through which he is passing, 
and has no house ; that his work is humble and 
hard. If in his dark and lowly place he is work- 
ing on the endless plan which God has com- 
mitted to him, which soon will lead him into 
the kindly light, it is enough. He is quiet and 
hopeful. He waits upon the Lord and his will, 
and trusts the endless years : 

Thus did he live his life, 
A kind of passive strife, 
Upon the God within his heart relying; 



310 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

Men left him all alone, 
Because he was unknown, 
But he heard the angels sing when he was dying. 

God judges of a light 

Which baffles mortal sight, 
And the useless seeming man the crown hath won: 

In his vast world above, 

A world of broader love, 
God hath some grand employment for his Son. 

II. The power of the endless years will, also, 
have a stimulating, quickening influence. A large 
work whose results are of importance, furnishes an 
incentive to action. We do not wish to exert our- 
selves for that which is small. In the easy 
lesson, the simple problem, there is nothing 
to stir our energy or excite our ambition. The 
architect will not put his skill into the rude build- 
ing which will be taken down to-morrow. Set 
him to the construction of a cathedral, and you 
engage all the forces of his mind and heart, and 
the clays and nights of years will be given to 
his work. 

To arrange a school for summer study would 
be the pastime of a leisure evening when the 
day's work is done. To plan and found a col- 
lege need the man's highest powers in their best 
estate, and the devotion will gladly be made. 

To think that our life is endless, and that we 
are making its character and deed day by day, after 
the largest measures, starts the blood, gives vigor 



THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 31 1 

to the will and stability to the purpose. All that a 
man is he consecrates to the sublime accomplish- 
ment. The teacher's thought enlarges its propor- 
tions when lie sees the encPess lines of his instruc- 
tion. The scholar presses with eager step and ex- 
panding heart over the boundless fields before him. 
It is stimulating for a man to remember that his 
life is leagued with other lives which are advanc- 
ing, with which his own vision and intention must 
keep pace. Still more are his desires excited and 
his designs enlarged by the knowledge that he is 
working out the endless thought of God ; that his 
life is a part of God's eternity, and that he is 
created for a limitless career. To know that he is 
the child of God, that his life is planned and him- 
self guided by God, that his work is a part of the 
eternal fabric which God's omnipotence is construct- 
ing, this makes a man conscious of the grandeur of 
being, of the greatness of the thought which is incar- 
nate in his manhood. Can one think upon his end- 
less life and bear the strain ? I can understand the 
burden of one who said, " The thought that this 
frail being is never to end is so overwhelming that 
my only shelter is God's presence." That shelter 
is denied to no one. Within the calmness of God's 
eternity the man holds his endless years. But 
they are years of life. They are } r ears of grand 
requisition. It has been truly said that when 
religion no longer requires that men shall attempt 
the impossible, it ceases to be religion. God's will 



312 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

is a long will. The principles of his government 
run on forever. His laws are everlasting. Into 
this stability the man is born. According to his 
day his strength shall be. With this provision he 
is to advance. He is inclined to look back and 
seek his origin. Divine providence and divine com- 
mandment bid him go forward. He is promised a 
spiritual body which shall endure. His spirit is 
immortal. His works shall follow and attend him. 
To know this is to be strong. It makes a man 
great to feel the power of his endless years. 

III. Under this influence he makes his own plans 
lar^e and lon^, and works them into a lar^e life. 
It is doubtful if one can have a generous ambition 
who does not see an ample future and submit to its 
control. It is certain that the strong men have 
looked before them and have worked for the future. 
Cicero asked, "What will history say of me six 
hundred years hence ? I am more afraid of that 
than of the chatter of my contemporaries." " I 
have had the year two thousand, and even the year 
three thousand, often in my mind," wrote Macaulay. 
A greater man than either, Gladstone, said, " The 
last, the severest, the surest, the most awful 
judge, is the compensating award of posterit^y." 
The power of the future upon character is marked, 
and the relation of character to the future is evi- 
dent. " Immortality will come to such as are fit 
for it ; and he who would be a great soul in future 
must be a great soul now." The thought of the 



THE POWER OF AN EXDLESS LIFE. 313 

future and its demands is a help in work. The 
lesson which seems needless may be indispensable 
at some time. The service that is not rewarded 
at once may be liberally paid for at a later day. 
The young lawyer, Daniel Webster, conducted a 
suit for a New Hampshire farmer, and his fee was 
less than the money he expended in his study of 
the case. Years afterwards the principle involved 
in it was needed in a cause of large proportions, 
and his ready application of it brought him his 
ample reward. He had made up his opinion and 
learning, not by the dimensions of a trifling dis- 
pute, but by the power of a long career in the law. 
In gathering and employing our possessions, 
the power of the coming ye^vs is an advantage. 
"We need to earn to-day more than we can use 
to-day, and to secure while on the earth more 
than we shall use upon the earth. If we were 
always to be here, our investments should be here. 
It were foolish to place all our goods in a world 
which we are presently to leave. The instability 
of wealth comes from putting it in unstable places. 
The present is continually slipping away. It is 
the future which stands. The earth vanishes, but 
the new earth remains. Our Lord pointed past the 
moth and rust and thief, and bade men lay up for 
themselves treasures in Heaven. They were to send 
them in advance of their own going. In this security 
is an incentive to labor for treasure and comfort 






314 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

which we can enjoy when our immediate gains have 
passed out of our sight. " Riches certainly make 
themselves wings ; they fly away as an eagle toward 
Heaven ; " in a sad tone, out of an experience of loss, 
are the ancient words repeated. Bat wherein lies 
the sadness ? Can nothing fly but riches ? It is 
with an exultant voice that the prophet cries, 
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
strength; they shall mount up with wings as 
eagles." If the men are flying in the same direc- 
tion with their riches, the parting cannot be long. 
We can at least determine the direction of the two 
flights. It will be a help to us, if looking beyond 
the river, we turn our riches toward the land 
where we would dwell, and let them rise upon their 
strong wings, to meet us on the farther shore when 
we alight. To give our treasure into God's keep- 
ing is to have it through all changes. To use it 
for him is to enjoy it forever. To think of the 
permanence of riches will affect us well in our 
gaining and losing, and getting and giving. 

It is not the thought of the endless years only 
which is given to us, but of the endless years in 
which God dwells, where his law rules and his grace 
abounds; where his children have their home in 
life and joy ; where they see him, and are like him, 
because they see him as he is. They call him a 
pagan who wrote, " It is pleasant to die, if there 
be gods ; and sad to live, if there be none." Say 
" God," and the sentence is sublime and profound 
in its truth. 



THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 315 

The power of the endless years throws our life 
forward and upward. Time holds us less firmly. 
We rise into clearer air, and feel the breath from the 
supernal hills. We find relief from our question- 
ings; the curious Whence changes to a hopeful 
Whither, and we hear the answer, see it, are in- 
spired by it. We do not set the broken column 
or the inverted torch over the place where we are 
to lie. We see our life entering the heavens, and 
mingling its light with the brightness of the perfect 
day. We turn away from the deeds of darkness 
and walk in the light. We come to Him who is 
" the same yesterday, and to-day and forever/' 
and in his promises find hope, in his mercy life. 
"Because I live, ye shall live also,'' he said. 
Among our graves he spoke : " I am the resurrec- 
tion." He gives us more than the succession of 
years which is our certain birthright. He changes 
time to life, and transforms being into immortality. 
He taught his apostle to write, " The wages of sin 
is death ; but the free gift of God is eternal life 
in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

The power of an endless life is designed for us all. 
It has a marvellous influence upon the young. It 
teaches them to lay long plans not to be bounded by 
an earthly commandment, but to reach on for a 
thousand years. It incites them to choose a calling 
which will serve them through the centuries, in 
the training it gives them, the spirit it fosters, the 
good it accomplishes, the gains it secures. It en- 



316 



CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 



courages them in study with the assurance that 
the enlarged mind will be large for the occupation 
and delights of another world, and that the truths 
learned here will attend them there. It counsels 
them to adopt for their guidance here the prin- 
ciples which will be found in force beyond, 
where Gabriel and Michael are held by the same 
twofold law which here declares our duty ; where 
the reaping is like the sowing ; where it is more 
blessed to give than to receive ; where all glorify 
God and accomplish the work which he gives them 
to do. It is grand, blessed, to be young; to be at 
the entrance of the years which reach across the 
world, and in the fullness of hope and promise to 
go forward in the power of an endless life. " I 
have written unto you, young men, because ye 
are strong." 

To the old, also, is given the power of an end- 
less life. Their years are not behind them. Their 
work is not completed. Their faces are not 
toward the sunset. The light from the long day 
shines upon their path, and their hope enters the 
city which hath foundation. This is the golden 
age of one who has lived by the power of an endless 
life. Let me read here the words of a good man 
who in the fullness of his years went on to God. 
He quotes the saying of Cicero^ " An old man has 
nothing indeed to hope for ; yet he is in so much 
the happier state than a young man, since he has 
already attained what the other only hopes for," 



THE POWER OF AX ENDLESS LIFE. 317 

But this will hardly satisfy," he adds. Then he 
continues, " There is no ignoring, there is no con- 
cealing the inconveniences, the infirmities, which 
steal over us as we descend into the vale of years." 
We who saw him every day as he moved with 
labored step and bending form among us, knew 
what he meant. But we saw more than his infirmi- 
ties. He saw more. " It is a great thing, for an old 
man to retain his faculties and his natural cheer- 
fulness to the last. It is a great thing to keep up 
his interest in good objects, and in his favorite 
studies and pursuits. It is great thing to be sur- 
rounded by kind friends, and all the endearments 
and appliances of a happy home. But greater than 
all 4 to know Christ, and the power of his resurrec- 
tion,' as a hope full of immortality." 

The last word of Harvard College to her sons as 
they go forth to their work, is the sentence of the 
Hebrew prophet which she has written upon her 
wall, which she w^ould fain repeat in the ears of 
her men from day to day, that they may look into 
the endless years : Qui autem docti fuerint,fulge- 
bunt, — "And they that be wise shall shine as the 
brightness of the imminent; and they that turn 
many to righteousness as the stars forever and 
ever " — in perpetuas alternitates ; God's forever, 
man's forever. 

Thoughts like these which have been presented 
were in the heart and in the mind of him whose 
name and life are now in our minds and hearts, 






318 CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. 

and will long remain in this college which he 
loved so well. He meant that every student here 
should feel that she is to live forever, and should 
equip herself for the endless years. He knew that 
the study of truth in all its branches would be of 
enduring profit. He sought that by the personal 
knowledge of Him who is the truth, the student 
should fashion her purposes and construct her 
life. He would have the present the earnest of 
the future, and the future the fulfilment of the 
present. He taught the boundless need of the 
best ministries, and would have that spirit of 
helpfulness which seeks to confer an endless bene- 
fit. He would encourage fidelity by the vastness 
of its results. He would have it felt that to bring 
a soul into the obedience of Christ, to strengthen 
one in the Christian life, to promote piety and 
holy service, is to accomplish that which will 
abundantly repay all efforts and sacrifice, in that 
it will be an eternal good. He saw that it was 
an endless path which opens where you stand, and 
that if you will enter it, you shall find God 
walking with you among the lilies, and leading 
you where, at length, the stars will be gleaming 
about your feet. 

He called this Christ's College. He would not 
have it bear his own name, nor let his face look 
down upon you from the walls. He meant that you 
should see the Lord. His last word to the teach- 
ers was, " Have faith: work and pray : be laborers 



THE POWER OF AN EXDLESS LIFE. 319 

together with God." His last Avoid to the stu- 
dents was, "Work for one another, and try to lead 
souls to God. Place Christ first, in all things and 
always." 

This is his benediction. They who receive it 
shall live by the power of an endless life. 



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